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I have a confession that might make me sound dramatic, but I don’t care (haha.) I wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw before I even knew what that meant for my actual life.

Not the chaotic dating life or the questionable financial decisions or the apartment that somehow cost $700 a month in Manhattan (the fantasy of it all).

I wanted the lifestyle of being a writer who gets paid to share her thoughts, observations, and behind-the-scenes of her life with people who actually care enough to read it every week.

I wanted to write about my life in a way that felt intimate and real and like you were sitting across from me at a cafe while I told you everything that was happening, not in a “here’s my highlight reel” way but in a “here’s what’s actually going on behind the scenes” way.

I wanted people to feel like they knew me, like they were part of my journey, like they were getting the real story instead of the perfect version everyone posts on Instagram.

And for the longest time, I thought that dream was reserved for TV characters and professional journalists with book deals and columns in major publications, not for someone like me who was working at a hotel reception dreaming of a different life.

Until I realized I could just… start writing weekly diaries anyway, without anyone’s permission, without a book deal, without waiting for someone to give me a platform.

So I did, and it changed my ENTIRE business in ways I never expected.

Why Instagram Captions Weren’t Working (And Why I Needed Something Different)

Before I started writing weekly email diaries, I was doing what everyone else tells you to do when you’re building an online business… like posting on Instagram non stop, writing captions that were supposed to be “valuable” and “engaging,” trying to grow my following so I could eventually sell something.

And it was exhausting in a way that felt soul-crushing.

Every post had to be perfectly curated, aesthetically pleasing, algorithm-friendly, caption-optimized, hashtag-researched. I was spending HOURS creating the perfect grid and trying so hard to say something meaningful in a format that wasn’t designed for depth or real connection.

But the real problem wasn’t just the exhaustion… it was that Instagram captions don’t build trust the way I needed them to.

People would follow me, like a few posts, maybe comment occasionally, but they didn’t actually know me or trust me enough to buy from me when I finally had something to sell.

They were surface-level engaged, not deeply connected, and that surface-level engagement doesn’t convert to sales no matter how many followers you have.

I needed something different, something that would let me actually connect with people in a real way, something that would build the kind of trust that makes someone go from casual observer to paying customer.

I needed what Carrie Bradshaw had: a weekly column where she got to share her real life, thoughts, struggles, wins, behind-the-scenes in a way that made people feel like they knew her.

So I started writing weekly email diaries, and everything changed.

What My Email Diaries Actually Are (And Why They Work Better Than Social Media)

My email diaries aren’t newsletters in the traditional marketing sense.

They’re actual diary entries like weekly love letters from wherever I am in the world (Bali, Finland, somewhere in between), sharing what’s happening in my life and business behind the scenes, what I’m thinking about, what I’m working on, what’s working and what’s not, the real unglamorous parts and the exciting parts.

Sometimes I write about building my business from a cafe somewhere around the world. Sometimes I write about struggling with imposter syndrome or comparing myself to other creators. Sometimes I write about what it’s actually like to live the location freedom life everyone romanticizes. Sometimes I write about a breakthrough I had or a lesson I learned the hard way.

It’s not perfectly curated or algorithm-optimized or designed to go viral.

It’s just real, honest, intimate writing that makes people feel like they’re getting the behind-the-scenes access to my actual life, not a highlight reel designed to make them jealous or a sales pitch disguised as connection.

And it works so much better than Instagram captions or traditional marketing content because it builds trust in a way nothing else can.

When someone reads your diary every week for months, they start to feel like they know you. They know your story, your struggles, your wins, your personality, your values, your approach to business and life.

They’re not just aware of you, they’re connected to you in a way that makes them want to support you and buy from you when you have something to offer.

That’s the Carrie Bradshaw effect (I love this btw) – people felt like they knew her because they were reading about her real life every week, not just seeing perfectly curated glimpses of it.

Why Email Diaries Convert Better Than Any Other Lead Magnet I’ve Tried

Before I figured out the diary method, I was doing what every business coach tells you to do aka create a lead magnet, grow your email list, nurture them with a sequence, pitch your offer.

I created a generic PDF guide. Something safe, something I thought people would want, something similar to what thousands of other people in my niche were offering.

And it barely converted.

I’d get subscribers, but they wouldn’t open my emails consistently. They wouldn’t engage. They definitely wouldn’t buy when I pitched my offers. They’d download the PDF and disappear, and I’d never hear from them again.

The problem with generic lead magnets is that everyone else has the same thing, so yours doesn’t stand out, and people don’t feel connected to YOU specifically – they just wanted the free resource and have no reason to care about you as a person or trust you as a guide.

But when I switched to offering my email diaries as the “lead magnet” – when I started inviting people to join my weekly diary instead of download a PDF, my email list EXPLODED.

People who signed up for my diaries actually opened them. They read them. They replied to them. They told me they looked forward to Saturday mornings when my diary would land in their inbox.

They felt like they knew me, like they were part of my journey, like they were getting something valuable that wasn’t just another forgettable PDF sitting in their downloads folder.

And when I mentioned my offers in my diaries, not in a pushy sales-y way, but in a natural “here’s what I’m working on” or “here’s how this thing I created can help you” way – they actually bought.

Because they trusted me. Because they felt connected to me. Because they’d been reading about my life and business behind the scenes for weeks or months and they wanted to support me and learn from me.

The conversion rate from diary subscriber to paying customer is insanely higher than any other lead magnet I’ve tried, and it’s because the diary builds real trust and connection instead of just collecting email addresses.

The Carrie Bradshaw Method: How to Start Your Own Email Diary

If you’re feeling called to start your own email diary instead of just posting on Instagram and hoping people care, here’s how to actually do it in a way that builds trust and converts to sales.

Step 1: Decide What Your Diary Will Be About

Your diary doesn’t have to be about everything in your life, it should focus on the intersection of your life and the thing you want to build a business around.

For me, that’s building my soft digital empire, the behind-the-scenes of creating products and content, what it’s like to work from different countries, the real struggles and wins of building an online business.

What’s your version? What do you want to share about your life that connects to what you’re building or want to build?

Step 2: Choose Your Platform and Frequency

I use Kit for my email diaries and I send them every Wednesday and Saturday morning without fail. The consistency matters because people start to expect it, look forward to it, build it into their routine.

Pick a day and time that works for you and commit to showing up every week. Weekly feels sustainable without being overwhelming, and it’s frequent enough that people don’t forget about you between emails.

Step 3: Write Like You’re Talking to a Friend

The whole point of a diary is that it’s intimate and real, not a perfect marketing copy.

Write like you’re sitting across from someone at a cafe telling them what’s been happening in your life and business. Use your actual voice, share real stories, be honest about struggles and wins, let your personality come through.

Don’t worry about perfect grammar or structure or saying everything perfectly. Worry about being real and connecting with people.

Step 4: Share Behind-the-Scenes, Not Just Highlights

People can get highlight reels anywhere, they come to your diary for the real story.

Share what’s actually happening like the exciting parts, the boring parts, the hard parts, the messy parts, the parts you wouldn’t post on Instagram because they’re not aesthetic enough or inspiring enough.

That’s where the trust gets built – in the vulnerability and realness that social media doesn’t allow for.

Step 5: Mention Your Offers Naturally (Without Being Salesy)

Your diary isn’t just for connection, it’s also how you sell without feeling gross about it.

When you naturally mention what you’re working on, what you’re building, how something you created helped someone, people who are reading and trusting you will want to buy when it feels right for them.

You don’t need aggressive sales sequences, you just need to show up consistently, build trust, and mention your offers in a natural “here’s what I’m working on that might help you” way.

Why This Is the Business Model I’ll Never Stop Using

I’m obsessed with my email diary in a way I’ve never been obsessed with Instagram or any other platform.

This email diary I have feels like the Carrie Bradshaw lifestyle I always wanted – getting paid to write about my life, connecting with people who care about the real story, building a business that’s based on trust and intimacy instead of algorithms and follower counts.

My diary subscribers are the people who buy my offers, who support my work, who reply with their own stories and struggles, who feel like friends even though we’ve never met.

They’re not just numbers in my email list, they’re real people who know me and trust me because I’ve been showing up in their inbox every week sharing my real life.

Plus, the business impact is undeniable – my diary is my highest converting funnel, my most engaged audience, my favorite AND fun part of my entire business model.

If you’ve been feeling burnt out on Instagram, if you’re tired of creating content that gets lost in the algorithm, if you want to build real trust and connection with your audience instead of just chasing followers, start an email diary.

It won’t go viral overnight. It won’t get you thousands of subscribers in a week. But it will build the kind of loyal, engaged, ready-to-buy audience that actually sustains a business long-term.

💌 And if you want help for turning your writing into income so you can build your own Carrie Bradshaw lifestyle? That’s exactly what I teach in Her Soft Blog Mini Playbook – how to use your blog and email list to create the laptop life where you get paid to write about what you love.

Because you don’t need a column in a major publication or a book deal to be a writer who gets paid to share her life.

You just need to start writing your diary and inviting people to read it.

So start today. Write your first diary entry. Hit send. See what happens when you stop performing for the algorithm and start connecting with real people in a real way.

Your Carrie Bradshaw moment is waiting.