Stop Selling. Start Designing.

In partnership with

THIS WEEK’S LESSON

The “No Sell, Sell”: How to Grow Your Business Without Feeling Like a Sleazy Marketer

Let’s be real.

Most Former Educator Founders didn’t leave the classroom to become a “salesperson.”

But now you’ve got a course. Or a community. Or a book. Or a tool that could actually change lives.

And you’re stuck between two painful realities:

You hate selling. But you’re tired of being ignored.

The truth? You don’t need to “sell” the old way.

Because Category Design lets you win without pitching.

Introducing: The No Sell Sell

🤔 Why You Hate Selling (and Why You’re Not Wrong)

In the classroom, selling looked like:

• Getting 30 teenagers to care about To Kill a Mockingbird.

• Convincing a parent to see you as a partner.

• Persuading your admin to try something new.

So it’s not that you can’t sell.

It’s that you’ve been told to do it wrong.

Post every day. Use scarcity. Build a funnel. Add a bonus (maybe a free puppy).

Ugh.

It feels like you’re wearing someone else’s skin.

💡 Here’s the Reframe

People don’t want to be sold.

They want to be seen.

They want to be understood.

And they want to believe they’re joining something bigger.

That’s the secret of Category Design:

It sells the belief, not the product.

The 6 Moves of the No Sell Sell

1. Name the Villain

Paint the status quo as the problem. Not your competitor.

The system. The assumption. The outdated model.

Example: “Most school PD is Too-Little-Too-Late, Unhelpful, and Disconnected."

Your alternative? Relevant. Responsive. Results-driven.

2. Expose the Old Game

Call out the trap your audience doesn’t know they’re in.

“Everyone’s chasing Product-Market Fit … but what if that entire model is broken?”

3. Reveal the New Game

Define a new world. A better future.

“We’re not building another education startup. We’re building the Category of Former Educator Founders.”

4. Make the Buyer the Hero

You’re not the genius. They are. You’re just the guide.

“I didn’t create the movement — I named it.”

5. Sell Belief, Not Features

Shift from benefits to beliefs.

“This isn’t a 6-week course. This is how you stop hiding and start building the business only you can build.”

6. Design for Conversion Without Selling

The words, the copy, the content, the memes — all of it reinforces the new POV.

And when it’s done right, people say, “This is what I’ve been looking for.”

This Works Because…

You’re not tricking people into a purchase.

You’re giving them language for a desire they already had.

Suddenly:

• They’re tagging their friends.

• Forwarding your emails.

• Quoting your POV in their stories.

Not because you “closed” them.

Because you gave them words they couldn’t unsee.