Hi Reader,
Every Monday I bring you one thing worth knowing and one thing worth trying.
Let's get into it.
The big thought...
Last week I spent an afternoon on Zoom with a room full of badass women entrepreneurs. Somewhere in that conversation, a thought landed that I could not shake.
That night I was looking at my own website. And I really took a look at it.
I asked myself a question I have not asked recently: did I build this for me, or for my customer?
Here is what I want to say first. Building it for you is not a mistake. Being an entrepreneur is hard. When you open your website and see a page you love, that matters. It inspires you and keeps you going. I truly believe that is not only part of the process. It is how you start when you are juggling everything.
But your customer is not you. They land on your page with one quiet question: do I feel comfortable enough to take the next step?
People do not move forward when they are pushed or tricked. They move forward when they feel safe. Every colour, every line of copy, every offer, every price point is doing one of two things. Building comfort or building friction.
Think about your last networking event and how that dance starts. You do not run up to someone and tell them everything about your life. You introduce yourself, you both make light conversation, then you find shared interests. Gradually, you get into their needs and you decide how they fit into your business. Can you help them now? Are they someone you can help later? Maybe they are a business contact you share information with.
Your website works the same way. It is a layered introduction. Above the fold, the first screen they see before they scroll, should do one job. Not five. When your homepage works too hard up top, it is the online version of talking someone's ear off before you have said hello. They do not lean in. They step back.
So here is the test. Every time you want to add something, one more line, one more button, one more "oh, and this too," ask yourself: does this support the main idea? Every page gets one focus or two at most. The first might be to sell and the backup might be to inform. Everything else is noise.
This week, try being your own customer. Open your website like a stranger. Click your own buttons and read your own words. Out loud can help too. Notice where you hesitate, because if you hesitate, they hesitate.
A website you love keeps you going. But a website they trust keeps them going, right to the next step.
Worth your time this week.
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Empathy is difficult: Seth Godin
Empathy requires skill and effort. It can be taught. And it is worth prioritizing. Four lines from Seth that explain why seeing through your customer's eyes is work, not a personality trait. Worth the ninety seconds
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From the Studio
This week I want to share with you how to be your own customer without the guessing.
You could open your website and try to see it fresh. But you built it. Your brain fills in the gaps before your eyes even land on the page. You cannot un-know your own business.
I think you know where I am going with this. Claude can see it fresh. Here is the move.
Step 1: Open Claude and describe your ideal customer in two or three sentences. Who they are, what they need, what they are worried about. If you have a document, even better. Include all information you know about them.
Step 2: Paste in your homepage copy. Headline, subheading, buttons, the works. Everything they see above the fold. I often take a screenshot and pop it in Claude.
Step 3: Ask Claude to become them. Not to review your page. To be the person landing on it for the first time.
Step 4: Read the answer like an editor. Some of it will miss and some of it will sting a little. But those stings are the gold. Know that everyone evolves constantly, so what worked for your customer last year might not work as well this year.
What comes back is the closest thing to standing behind a stranger's shoulder while they read your website. Where they hesitate, what confuses them and what would make them feel safe enough to click.
One focus per page. This shows you whether your page actually has one or many.
Do you know someone who would find this useful? Forward this email to them and they can subscribe below.
Prompt of the Week
This one turns Claude into your first-time visitor. It pairs with everything above. Paste in your homepage copy first, then run this:
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"You are my ideal customer: [describe them in 2–3 sentences or insert your ideal customer profile, who they are, what they need, what they're unsure about]. You have just landed on my homepage for the first time. You do not know me or my business.
Walk me through your experience honestly. What do you understand within the first five seconds? Where do you hesitate? What feels unclear or like too much? What would make you feel comfortable enough to take the next step? Be specific and be honest. Do not spare my feelings."
— — —
That last line matters. Without it, AI defaults to politeness. You do not need politeness. You need the truth about where they step back. Make sure to use this prompt as a starting place. Add as much or as little as you would like.
You've got this. And now you've got the tools to prove it.
Kate Kozak
Kateology AI Studio | Kateology.ca
P.S. You asked, so I build it!
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When I wrote about what I am teaching my teenager about AI, it became my most-opened issue ever. And the replies kept coming. So many of you had questions.
So I created a beginner summary: Raising a Thoughtful Human in the AI Age. A free guide with the framework, my thinking, and dinner conversation questions you can use tonight. After that, one short email a week on what we are actually doing at our house.
Here is the honest part. My son barely uses AI. And when we built something together, he handled the open-ended thinking better than I did. We are teaching each other.
I am figuring this out in real time, same as you.
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