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Hey Reader,

It was 8:23 PM last Tuesday. The twins had finally gone down for the night.

I was doing one last scroll through LinkedIn (as you do) when a notification popped up — someone had commented on my MP3 Framework post.

The comment read:

"This was a pretty good framework! Question: How do you think about the market process, particularly when you are sharing the losses? I get that when we talk about vulnerability, this is the type of thing that actually humanizes us, but how do you write about the losses or what you are learning without coming across as a n00b and/or turning off prospective clients?"

I could have done what most of us do — fire off a quick response and forget about it by morning.

After all, it's just one comment among dozens I get every week.

But something about this question stopped me. It wasn't just a clarification request. It reveals a deeper uncertainty many creators feel:

If I share my failures, will potential clients see me as weak? Less credible? Someone they can't trust?

So I took a screenshot, dropped it into my Insights Engine, and made a note: "People are confused about how to share failures without undermining credibility."

And just like that, what could have been a forgotten evening interaction became the seed for this newsletter.

This, my friends, is the difference between creating random content and building a content engine fueled by real insights.

The hidden content goldmine you're ignoring

Think about your last week online and in your business. How many comments did you respond to? How many DMs did you answer? How many client calls revealed questions or concerns that made you think, "Hmm, that's interesting"?

Now, how many of those moments did you actually capture and transform into content?

If you're like most creators, the answer is probably "not many" or even "none." And that's the tragedy.

Every day, your audience and clients are literally telling you what they want to learn from you. They're revealing their confusions, their frustrations, their unspoken worries.

These signals are pure gold — they're the raw material for content that actually resonates.

Yet most of us let these insights vanish into the digital ether. We're too busy to notice them, too overwhelmed to capture them, or simply don't have a system for turning them into content.

And that's a damn shame because insights are the connection between:

• What your audience is experiencing
• What they're struggling with
• What they want to achieve
• AND how your expertise can help them bridge that gap

Let's go back to that evening comment. Here's how I responded:

"You share what you got wrong, why you got it wrong, and what you're doing to fix it. The key moments are in the INTROSPECTION and the WHAT'S NEXT. If you just whine about a loss, you come across as a noob and turn people off. If you tell people that you got it wrong but have the self-reflection to know why and have a plan to fix it, you're showing your humanity and building credibility."

I then shared examples of me sharing failures in this fashion.

​Feel free to read through those here.​

Allow me to go deeper...

When I said, "The key moments are in the INTROSPECTION and the WHAT'S NEXT," here's what I meant:

By introspection, I meant:

This isn't just saying, "I tried X, and it failed." That's surface-level and, honestly, not that helpful.

Real introspection looks like:

• "I tried X because I believed Y would happen, but Z happened instead."
• "Looking back, I realized I made assumption A, which turned out to be incorrect because..."
• "The real issue wasn't the strategy itself, but how I implemented it. Specifically..."

Notice how each of these shows critical thinking and deep understanding.

By what's next, I meant:

This is where you transform the failure from a dead end into a pathway:

• "Based on what I learned, I'm now approaching this differently by..."
• "The key adjustment I've made is..."
• "This experience completely changed my framework. Now I start with..."

Notice how you're not just describing failure — you're dissecting it with expertise.

This shows that you know how to evolve, adapt, and improve — which is exactly what clients want to see.

Why this works:

When you share failures this way, you're not exposing weakness — you're demonstrating:

1. Self-awareness (you know when something isn't working)
2. Analytical thinking (you understand why)
3. Problem-solving ability (you know how to fix it)
4. Humility (you're not too proud to admit mistakes)
5. Growth mindset (you see failures as learning opportunities)

These are all qualities people WANT in someone they hire.

AKA: HUMANNESS.

FINALLY! A system for capturing insights

AHHH EXCITEMENT IS BREWING BECAUSE I FINALLY BUILT A SYSTEM WE CAN ALL USE TO FIX THIS MASSIVE PROBLEM.

Listen, I've always captured insights, but in all the wrong places:

Place #1: My brain. I used to be great at remembering things, but then I had kids and started to slowly lose all of my physical and mental faculties. (It's been SO fun.)

Anyways, can't trust my brain anymore.

Place #2: Apple notes. Fine. Simple. Easy to capture. Harder to do anything with. I'd forget to check my notes all the time. It was haphazard at best.

For years, these makeshift systems meant I was capturing maybe 10% of the gold that crossed my path. The rest simply vanished. WTF. Uncool.

Well...

I'm putting the finishing touches on something I've been quietly building for months: The MP3 Content Engine in Notion 🎉

It's a complete content creation ecosystem with three powerful engines working together:

1. The Insights Engine: Extract your best ideas with 100+ targeted questions, split into problem, process, and proof categories.
2. The Content Engine: Build your posts piece by piece as you answer guided questions (it's like having a content coach in the room with you).
3. The Signal Engine: Capture signals and feedback on your content, and use those to inform new insights.

Round and round you go!

This Engine is designed to help you capture these valuable insights when they happen, organize them effectively, and transform them into content that actually moves people to action.

And it works. One of my clients (Lashay) generated 43 content ideas in just 4 days using this system. Not random ideas — deeply connected insights that speak directly to her audience's needs and questions.

And she's PSYCHED about it:

The flywheel effect

The beauty of this approach is that it creates a self-sustaining cycle:

• You meet with clients or your potential ICP and gather insights
• You share content based on said insights
• Your audience responds with questions, comments, and reactions
• Those responses generate new insights
• You create more resonant content
• Repeat

Each turn of this wheel makes your content more targeted, more valuable, and more likely to drive the results you want.

Early feedback is looking HOT 🔥

I shared a Loom walking my Full Stack Solo members through this engine last week, and this is what they had to say:

YEP. You certainly can!

I announced the MP3 Content Engine for the first time last week, and there are already 187 people on the waitlist. That's a fantastic signal.

Oh, did I mention I'm launching this on my birthday (March 29th), and only the people on the waitlist get a special birthday present from me?

(I'm turning a lovely 38, thanks for asking.)

​Hop on the waitlist now

Cheers,

Erica

PS. Speaking of losing all my mental and physical faculties since having kids, I went on Alli Tunnel's show Shifting Priorities and opened up about how hard this journey has been for me.

Honestly, I can't handle the societal image that we're all supposed to just be totally fine with this insane transition from having a life that's yours to having a life that's basically for your kids. Self-care is really, really hard these days. And I like talking openly about this stuff because it's cathartic.

If that interests you, listen here.

PPS. I think this is the last podcast I did before I got my podcast mic. Omg the sound. Can't believe I did that for years. Glad I finally fixed it. It's never too late.

​

New here? I'm Erica. Your seltzer-loving solopreneur who helps you earn more money with content that moves people to action (but doesn’t feel salesy). ​​​