Welcome to another episode of the Business of Freelancing Podcast.  First I’d like to recognize a few recent 5-star reviews for the show. Much thanks goes to: sporkitover, rickwolf, justin_mw, jeff at ecoommercewarriors, ourumov7, kellyIriye for their reviews in iTunes.

Keep those reviews coming. It’s a great way for me to know that the show is resonating with you and bringing you the resources that you’re looking for.

The Business of Freelancing Conference tickets will be on sale soon. The show will be September 16-18 in Norfolk, VA. Sign up to get notified when tickets go on sale.  I am really excited and honored when I look at the speaker lineup.  We have the best from several industries to come share their knowledge with you at the conference.

Today I have John Sonmez on the show with me.  John describes himself as a “Life coach for software developers”. Starting a few years ago he built more than 7 days of course work on Pluralsight, which allowed him to quit his day job and ramp up his educational portfolio. John also quickly realized there was nobody focusing specifically on lifestyle coaching for software developers, and decided to focus his efforts entirely on that.

John and I talk about the power of creating content that comes directly from the questions that customers ask of you. Talking to a broader audience is so much more powerful than directly speaking to an individual. Marketing is the conversion of those conversations into an evergreen piece that “build the bricks” in your content machine.

To brige the gap between creating content and converting those fans into customers or referrals to other customers John says his go to is his email list. And the best way to build a high quality email list is through email courses. John says that his most valuable business asset is his email list, because of how often you can have a conversation with those members of your audience.

Lastly, to leave you with actionable takeaways from the show John has a challenge.  In the comments below for this episode, let us know what action you took to create and update your blog. John will be monitoring the comments here and will pick one of the comments and send you a signed copy of Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual.

Also, go to DevCareerBoost.com and use coupon code “DYF” to get $100 off our course on how to move your career as a developer to a whole new level.

You can find out more about John over on his blog at SimpleProgrammer.com, or on Twitter @jsonmez.  John also runs two podcasts:  Entreprogrammers which is a recording of his weekly mastermind group. And Get Up and Code talks more to the personal side of being a programmer and entrepreneur.