*** Draft ***

I’ve met a few writers who’ve taken a similar path…

Conferences, courses, time spent refining their voice—but very few who’ve been able to make it a full-time job.

We’re taught the craft of writing and creating traditionally…

Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, style—but if we think about what it takes to actually do this professionally,we quickly realize we’re trying to produce a very uncommon result.That means common / traditional training can’t work.

Especially now…

There’s just too much noise—blogs, books, reels, newsletters, ads.
Most creatives are still told to “just focus on the art” and trust that it’ll catch on.
The people who are succeeding are using very precise formulas.

What does work…

Is learning how to shape our creativity in a way that naturally attracts, engages,
and holds the attention of real people in ways that allow us to help them.

That’s not marketing in the cheesy sense—it’s just using structure, rhythm, and language that meets people where they are, and leads them to where they really want and need to go.

When I started my online membership business just…

…three months before COVID—my investor bailed, and suddenly I had two months to create a new business and replace my entire income during a pandemic.

At the time I was living in San Clemente, still had kids in school,
and had a burn rate that made failure non-negotiable.

I pulled it off—but only because I was lucky enough to find and adopt writing formulas that were proven to work.

So that’s what I’ve been using, proving, and refining ever since…

Systems and SOPs that I hope will help other Christian creatives do more than just create. I want us all to have the opportunity to build things that reach people, sustain themselves, and honor the calling we’ve been given.

I genuinely believe Christian writers should be some of the best “marketers” in the world.

Not because we’re chasing money, but because we’re competing with messages that pull people away from their purpose.

If a Red Bull or booze commercial can stop someone in their tracks,

shouldn’t our stories be even more powerful?

As I think more about this…

…I love the idea of slowly building a Creative Community around it. Not just a group that talks about writing or creating—but one that builds meaningful things that actually get used by others together.

A community where creativity is respected, but effective structure is embraced and deployed in a way that produces our individual and collective objectives.

Where we talk about money not as a threat to our faith,

but as a design filter that requires us build things people actually want to use and return to.

Eric

[_] I’m not sure if draft post will get to anyone, but if you found your way to it and are interested in such a thing, just reply in the comment section below with any questions or ideas, and then email me at members@averagefrog.com and I’ll start creating a list—assuming that I’m not the only one on it!