Hi, new here and need help w/free guide, pdf, post,?

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Hi, I’m new here and definitely the dinosaur in the cafe. I’ve written a free guide. I’m still editing it in Google doc and am going to put it into something called Dreamrr for final touches, images. (I haven’t used that platform yet, but it helps publish ebooks).

My question is the which to use format to use for my free guide that will include a downloadable checklist. (This is my first attempt to do something online and the technical parts have been my obstacle). I just realized I don’t understand the difference between a pdf, ebook, or the best way to move forward. I imagine it as an image with a title that people interested click on, which takes them to the guide and checklist. The article itself is probably about 3-5p pages long. Can someone please tell me the easiest process for which to do this.

Don’t know if this matters, but it’s survival info for everyday people, so it’s not necessarily in a particular niche, or my niche. So I might put it on FB or Substack or ? Any suggestions? I was thinking about including a few helpful links, even though I am not an affiliate, but I know that Amazon has a lot of rules, like I don’t have a website but could use the publishing platform as verification. Also publishing it with a downloadable checklist. Do I format the checklist as a pdf? (dinosaur language​:turtle:))

I thought I should make it free and wasn’t planning on collecting emails, since it’s not going to be my specific niche. Also because I need the practice of getting through the tech stuff, so it’s actually more of a learning experience than anything. And I’m embarrassed to say this but I’ve been studying this digital online world for over 5 yrs. and my ADHD brain has me going in too many directions. So I finally decided to focus on one thing, a digital product.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks, Sue​:sunflower:

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Hey Sue, good to see you here!

Thanks for plucking up the courage to post on the public forum :slight_smile:

First up, you’re not a “dinosaur” at all. If anything, you’re doing something a lot of people never get to… actually trying to ship something.

Second up, survival is a great niche. There’s some high ticket affiliate products you can promote. Lots of potential :money_bag:

I’ll keep this simple as poss, because I think that’s what you need at this juncture.

For your use case, don’t overthink the format. A PDF is your ebook and your checklist can also be a PDF (or even just the last page of the guide). There’s no need to complicate it beyond that.

You can literally write everything in Google Docs, go to File → Download → PDF

… and yer done.

Dreamrr is optional. Nice to have, but not required to get your first version out.

Where I think you’re getting a bit stuck is imagining the “perfect setup” before you’ve even published the first version and you don’t need that yet. Much better to get something live you can test now. Refinements can come later.

If I were you, I’d do this:

  • Keep the guide to your 3–5 pages

  • Add the checklist at the end (or as a second PDF if you prefer)

  • Upload it somewhere simple like Google Drive or Gumroad (free option)

  • Share the link where your audience already is (FB groups, Substack, Reddit etc.)

That gets you over the line quickly.

One small thing I’d gently suggest… even if this is “just practice” I’d seriously consider collecting emails, even if it’s just a handful. Great list-building practice and the niche lends itself well to email follow up :wink:

You’ve already done the hard part (creating something useful). It would be a shame if people downloaded it and you had no way to reach them again. You don’t need anything fancy, even a very basic signup page would do.

We can help you with all that here on the forum.

But if list-building feels like a step too far, just get version one out first. Also, don’t worry about Amazon rules at this stage. You’re sharing something helpful. That’s a good place to start. If it looks like it might go somewhere you can look at Amazon a bit later on.

You’ll learn more from publishing this than another 5 years of reading about it :slightly_smiling_face:

– Rohan :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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Thx Rohan,

I beg to differ…being the dinosaur in the cafe, but at this point I’m okay with putting myself out there as a person who doesn’t understand the mechanics of how this whole being online technology works. I mean I’m even thinking if I want to use my real name when I publish anything (I’d rather not for privacy concerns). Seeking advice on that one. I’ve literally been studying this stuff for over 5yrs., so at this point, I’m not gonna’ give up. So I get your, “just do it attitude”, that “just do it” mentality is what finally got me to do anything. You wouldn’t believe the notebooks I have filled with notes I’ve taken. I won’t buy courses from gurus and spend a lot of money I don’t have either. I’m gonna figure this sh** out, so I hope being in your Digital Matrix Cafe is not a disruption, as most people are far ahead of my understanding. I have gone through some of the suggested material on here and found it helpful, thanks.

One of the reasons, I need to have success at this is because I’ve wanted to move and relocate to a place I want to live, perhaps outside the U.S. I live in CA, which is very expensive and I’m always in survival mode. And I’m getting too old for the struggle. And it started with American culture, which I was tired of, then along came the politics of late, which hopefully you can understand. I woke up one day and said (like the Talking Heads), “How did I get here” and if you don’t plan your life well, you will too someday. I want to be able to work remotely, so I can someday, find a place to call home, where I can live and “retire”, if I ever do, and enjoy the remaining years of my life. Most people my age have some sort of retirement, but like I said, I just woke one day and realized, I didn’t plan my life well. All I have is my health and my ambition to create something better for myself that will afford me the chance to be self sufficient, to stop worrying about it all and leave something of value for my daughter. And also, more than anything, I want to prove to her that all this “studying” and trying hasn’t been for nothing, (she criticizes me for trying, (like it’s impossible), and I want her to know, that she too, can do it. She’s not tech challenged. But I swear, after watching so many people that have had success online, they can’t all be lying. I think there’s a timeline for all of this, but I also believe that there’s still time, for me, for an individual w/out the greatest idea…to have success online. I hope I’m not delusional…My mind just wasn’t built to understand this tech stuff as easily as others. So I will take your advice and not complicate things.

I think you’re right about collecting email addresses. I’m just not sure how to present. Maybe I should monetize and sell it on Gumroad for $5, then again, I think it’s better to do it for free and learn. Partially because it’s not my niche. I’ve almost got it into a Google Doc in pdf form. If I go on FB, I’ll probably want to create a new page or group, not in my name.Those are questions. It’s just the technical stuff that’s hanging me up, so I’ll be posting further questions when I can’t figure out and not care if I sound so novice that nobody cares to help me. You’ve been consistent and for that I thank you very much. And we’re all getting older, I just didn’t know it would happen so fast. The whole world just keeps going faster and faster…how can someone my age have known that it could change so radically. I still plan on dancing and enjoying life riding waves, listening and playing good music, forgetting age and dancing the nights away to the beats in foreign countries I choose to explore for the rest of my life.

Thanks for answering my post. I wish I had a mentor that would explain things like a b c, but it seems as if Chat GPT and you, the fine people at Digital Matrix Cafe are it for now and for that I am grateful. Have a great weekend and carry on. You’re much appreciated!

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Hey Sue,

Quite the opposite… this is exactly the kind of post the forum is for :slightly_smiling_face:

And to be perfectly honest, your message is a lot clearer than you probably realise. You’re not lacking any direction, you’ve just got too many options in front of you all at once.

:sweat_smile: that’s me every day … lol

So let’s step back briefly and try to clearly break this down a little bit.

You only need to make three decisions to get this out into the world:

1. Name (easy one)
Use a pen name.

No downside at this stage, and it removes a mental block straight away. You can always change this later once you’re more comfortable.

2. Free or paid
Make it free.

You’re not testing “will people pay”, you’re testing “can I get something live and downloaded”, which are two very different goals.

3. Where to put it
Pick the simplest option possible.

Honestly, I’d go:

  • PDF on Google Drive

  • Share link in a couple of FB groups or wherever you feel comfortable

No need for a website or a funnel. Keep it dead simple.

That’s your version one.

Everything else you mentioned (Gumroad, email lists, branding, platforms) is version two.

Right now, your only job is:

prove to yourself you can create something and put it in front of real people

Just by doing that you will give yourself a psychological boost :slight_smile:

On the email thing…

Don’t let it slow you down.

If you feel up for it, great, we can help you set something simple up. If not, skip it for now and come back to it after you’ve published. When I first started out I neglected email marketing. Big mistake. It’s actually the only thing you can rely on consistently.

But yeah … one step at a time for now :slight_smile:

I’m happy to take a look at your ‘work in progress’ too.

Wanting to build something so you’ve got freedom to move, live differently, and show your daughter it’s possible… that deserves a lot of respect. You’ve already crossed the hardest bit, which is actually deciding to do something.

Can I come? lol

I’m looking forward to seeing where you go with this …

-- Rohan :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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Sue, You just wrote MY life story! All the same. I am from the US and tired of the rat race and worried about the trajectory of the country. (Trying not to get into politics here.) My retirement “plan” isn’t going to get me through retirement at all, not even close. I needed a new “plan” so because the lifestyle we had created in Dnever was not sustainable. My health, my mental health and my wallet wouldn’t last forever. Last year my husband and I sold our home in Denver, our cars and everything we owned to make a new life in Merida Mexico. He receives a small social security check each month, but it certainly isn’t going to be enough to sustain us in the long run so I need to generate a small income to supplement our new lifestyle. The good news is that I don’t need to make millions to live here like I did in Denver. Im 56 yo, not tech savvy, but I do have a good niche that I’ve had 30 years of experience in so I’m trying to monetize that experience online. I know what I “need” but I’m feeling my way to making something happen. I stumbled upon The Digital Matrix Cafe when looking at starting “something” and it has been my life line. Thank you to Rohan and Diane for helping me so much. Still very new. I have to figure out how to get traffic to my site and hopefully one day I can make a little dough! Thanks for the great post Sue. Helps me feel like I’m not the only one!

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