It is very common for successful experts to be in business for years, yet not build a considerable email list.  The good news is that getting started is easy.

I’m going to show you a strategy for creating your messages and how to put your outreach efforts on autopilot.

1) Make a Plan

When making the transition to using an email list, the simplest things that you can do is to set up a very easy-to-use auto responder.

The trick here is not to write one article per month. Instead, use something called block scheduling and commit to writing several at once.

You can probably come up with 12 ideas off the top of your head.

Simply take out a sheet of paper and put 12 boxes on it.

[shareable text=”These 12 simple boxes can change your email strategy for an entire year. Click to find out how.”]These 12 simple boxes can change your email strategy for an entire year.[/shareable]

Draw to vertical lines on the piece paper, then draw three horizontal lines on the piece paper,

Simply label each one of these boxes with a month and year. See screen capture.

2) Write the Articles

Start something short and easy.

• If you run workshops, give people your lessons learned from an event that you just held.
• Give people your thought for the day, or an inspiring quote.
• If you are an author, simply publish a short excerpt from your book.

There is nothing wrong with having all 12 emails be a two-sentence thought for the day.

You are at the very beginning of your email marketing empire, so don’t make it complicated.

All you have to do is take the first step.

Authors out there have the easiest time of any of us experts. You have already created all of your content.

[shareable text=”Authors are the easiest type of expert to transition to email marketing — they already have loads of content!”]Authors are the easiest type of expert to transition to email marketing — they already have loads of content![/shareable]

I know a very successful author who does nothing but the following approach every single day of the year.

He publishes 1-2 paragraphs from one of his books each week. At the bottom of each email he has a link that says “Hey, if you liked this buy a copy of my book” with a link to his digital store.

Simple. Easy to start. Brilliant!

So here are a few examples. You can do this simply to get started.

3) Turn on the Auto Pilot

No matter which email marketing service you choose (MailChimp, Constant Contact, aWeber, etc.), it will come with the ability to schedule your emails for future delivery.

Just create all 12 of your articles and schedule each to publish to your list, say, on the first Tuesday of each month, or whatever works for your readers.

[shareable]When reaching out to your tribe. Make automation your friend.[/shareable]

The point is you can set up all of these posts at once, and then have your email reminders all lined up for the entire year.

[reminder]How often do you publish? Once a month? Irregular? Weekly? Tell us more![/reminder]