If you want to really master something…
… learn it well enough to teach it.
Sounds obvious, but hear me out.
I’m working with a new client right now who sells courses. And one of the first things I like to figure out about any client I work with is:
What is their WHY?
A.K.A. What really motivates them to do what they do.
Understanding this serves two purposes:
#1. It acts as a North Star for the emails I write for them.
#2. Their answer helps tackle one of the most common cynical objections people have about course sellers:
“Those who can’t do, teach. So if what you’re teaching is really that good, why aren’t you just keeping it to yourself and profiting from it?”
It’s a fair question.
Because, yes, the internet is full of charlatans… many of whom got lucky and hit a homerun one time, and now focus on “teaching” because they know they could never replicate their previous success.
Or worse still:
There’s some folks who’ve never had success with what they’re teaching at all… but they’ve mastered the art of talking a good game.
But as for the good teachers…
The ones worth paying attention to and buying from…
They often give a different answer. And it’s music to my ears anytime I hear a client utter the following words:
“I teach because I learn more from teaching than I would by keeping my knowledge to myself.”
I’ve found that to be 100% true.
When you teach something, you’re forced to organise your thoughts better. You connect the dots you didn’t even realise were there. You get reminded of stuff you’d long forgotten. And you sharpen your skills faster than you would on your own.
It’s like the difference between working out casually in the gym…
… versus becoming a personal trainer and having to explain proper form to someone else every single day.
One related trick I’ve found super useful: (and practiced for 10 years now)
Keep a “Master Notes Document.”
Every time you learn something new, add it to your Master Notes on that subject.
And force yourself to find where it slots into your existing knowledge base. Doing this helps iron out any contradictions in your knowledge, and allows you to quickly identify your blind spots.
You don’t even have to teach to benefit from this practice…
But if you do ever start teaching, you’ll already have a rock-solid foundation ready to roll from.
This Master Notes practice was super helpful for me when I created my Emails with Attitude Cookbook.
It allowed me to condense my 10 years of knowledge on writing fun, persuasive, and profitable personality-packed emails into something you can read in 4-5 hours and massively level up your own email writing skills.
It’s got all my core frameworks, examples, and recipes for emails that I use on the daily…
… both in my own emails to this list right here, and to the emails I write for my clients.
And you can feast your eyes on it right here:
https://kennethturnbull.com/ewa
Stay sharp,
Kenneth Turnbull