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Many solopreneurs struggle with marketing not because of their offer, pricing, or platform, but because they’re speaking to the wrong version of their audience. In this episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, Carly Ries and Joe Rando explain the three identities every buyer moves through: Problem Identity, Process Identity, and Product Identity.

Understanding these identities helps solopreneurs create messaging that connects, builds trust, and converts clients. Learn why focusing only on pain points can hurt conversions and how identity-based messaging improves marketing results. If you want your marketing to resonate with potential clients, this framework can change how you communicate your value.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why focusing only on pain points can hurt conversions
• The three identities every buyer experiences during a purchasing journey
• Why most solopreneurs skip the process stage in their marketing
• How identity-based messaging helps clients see themselves evolving
• Questions you can ask to immediately improve your marketing

The Three Identities in Buyer Psychology

1. Problem Identity

This is how your audience sees themselves right now.

Examples:

• Overwhelmed
• Inconsistent
• Struggling to grow
• Unsure what to focus on next

Talking about pain points can capture attention, but people don’t want to stay identified with their problems.

2. Process Identity

This is the identity your audience wants while they’re solving the problem.

During this stage they want to feel:

• Strategic
• Capable
• Consistent
• In control

This is the stage many solopreneurs forget to address in their messaging.

3. Product Identity

This is who your audience believes they’ll become after the transformation.

For many solopreneurs, that identity includes:

• Being a legitimate business owner
• Running a profitable business
• Having control over their time
• Building a business that supports their life

People don’t just buy products or services. They buy the future version of themselves.

Key Takeaway

When creating marketing or messaging, ask yourself:

1. What identity is my audience currently stuck in?
2. Who do they want to feel like during the journey?
3. Who do they believe they’ll become after success?

Your marketing should speak to all three identities.

FAQs

What are the three identities in marketing?
The three identities are Problem Identity, Process Identity, and Product Identity. These represent how an audience sees themselves when experiencing a problem, who they want to become during the journey of solving it, and who they believe they will be after achieving the result.

Why do pain points alone not convert clients?
Pain points can capture attention, but constantly reinforcing struggle can cause resistance. People want to move beyond their problems, so marketing that also speaks to growth and transformation tends to convert better.

How can solopreneurs improve their messaging?
Solopreneurs can improve messaging by addressing where their audience currently is, who they want to become during the process, and the identity they hope to achieve after success.

If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to subscribe to The Aspiring Solopreneur and leave a review to help other solopreneurs discover the show.

Episode Transcript

Carly Ries: What if your messaging isn't broken, it's just aimed at the wrong version of your audience? In this episode, we break down the three identities your audience moves through. The problem identity, the process identity, and the product identity, and how missing just one can quietly tank your conversions. If you've been stuck talking about pain points but not seeing results, this framework will completely shift how you position your offers and write your marketing. After twenty years in marketing, this perspective stopped me in my tracks.

You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for anyone on the solo business journey, whether you're just toying with the idea, taking your first bold step, or have been running your own show for years and want to keep growing, refining, and thriving. I'm Carly Ries, and along with my cohost, Joe Rando, we're your guides through the crazy but awesome world of being a company of one. As part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all things solopreneurship, we help people design businesses that align with their life's ambitions so they can work to live, not live to work. If you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the place for you. But if you want real world insights from industry experts, lessons from the successes and stumbles of fellow solopreneurs, and practical strategies for building and sustaining a business you love, you're in the right spot.

Because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. No matter where you are in your journey, we've got your back. Okay. So Joe, today I want to talk about something that I think is quietly sabotaging a lot of really smart solopreneurs. And I gotta say, I haven't always followed this advice with our messaging, so I feel like it's time to like look in the mirror and help other people with it.

And I feel like I've been talking about it a lot this week, so maybe I'll get off my high horse next week. But it's

Joe Rando: That's alright.

Carly Ries: The thing that I think is sabotaging smart solopreneurs, it's not their offer, their pricing, even their marketing channels. It's that they're speaking to the wrong identity of their persona. And so I wanna walk through three identities, again, that can go can coincide with the buyer's journey, but those are the problem identities, the process identity, and the product identity. And Joe, you and I this week, we've been talking about speaking to problems versus speaking to the journey. And I kinda wanna walk through each of these three identities to see how people might be able to tweak their messaging, depending on the current identity of their audience.

Does that all make sense so far?

Joe Rando: Yeah. So far.

Carly Ries: Okay. the first is, there is a problem. There is the problem identity of your audience. So who's your audience right now? This is clearly the place to get started because it's where they are right now.

And the problem identity is who your audience sees themself as in the moment. They're overwhelmed. They're behind. They're not consistent. They're not doing enough.

And the mistake that I see a lot of solopreneurs make is that they stop here with their messaging. They only talk to the pain points. And again, this is where I think I have put my foot in my mouth in the past because I have also done this.

Joe Rando: No. No. I just think we've all done this because I think it was kind of in vogue for a while. Right? Pain points. Pain points. And it matters because people need to feel seen. But the truth is that no one wants to stay in the problem phase. Your audience doesn't want to continue feeling that way. And they don't want to have that reinforcement of like, yeah, I am overwhelmed. Yeah, I am behind.

Carly Ries: they're sort of resisting your messaging because you keep reinforcing an identity that they're trying to outgrow. So it's important to speak to those problems, but don't build your house there, let's say. you need to address it, but then there's more messaging that needs to come into play.

Joe Rando: the way I think about it, which, you know, you can take it or leave it, but I look at pain points as being a good scroll stopper. Right? If I've got a pain point and I see that pain point identified in something, I go, oh, yeah. And it's stops me.

But it isn't gonna necessarily convert me. Because sure, it's pain. It's a pain point I have. There it is on the screen. I don't know why I'm gonna buy that product just because they know what's wrong. It doesn't mean they can solve it.

Carly Ries: Totally. And I'm glad you said that. Because from a conversion standpoint, they have to go through a process to convert. Right? So that goes to the process identity.

Who do they want to be during the process of this conversion? And I would say this is the messaging step that most people skip because process identity is who your audience wants to be on their journey, not just the final result, not where they started, but in the transformation. So they don't just want more clients. They want to feel capable, or strategic, or consistent. They they need to be seen in that journey.

And this is huge because people don't just buy the outcome either. They don't buy the problem, but they don't just buy the solution. And so they need to be spoken to in the version of themselves in the process. Do I still have you?

Joe Rando: Yeah. But I never thought about that before. So that's new to me.

Carly Ries: Yeah. I guess, like, for us, let's say, just for, LifeStarr, they don't just want a business. They want to feel like someone who has a plan for their business, knows what to work on, they aren't guessing, and then the outcome is a successful solopreneur. There is the product identity, or who they believe they'll be when they arrive, what I was just saying. So this end state, the product identity is who your audience believes they'll be after the transformation. again, just for LifeStarr and solopreneurs , since that's who we target, we want them to think at the end, I'm a legitimate business owner. I'm respected. I'm profitable. I can take my family on vacation. I can go to my kids soccer games. I built something.

I built a business that supports my life. And most solopreneurs do just sell these features and sell results, but they sell their products as the outcome, not the identity of the people they're targeting. So you need to think of who is your persona at that point, not just at that point they have your product or service. Does that make sense?

Joe Rando: Absolutely. 100%. Like I said, this is a little different thinking, and I like it.

Carly Ries: So I guess, putting it into your marketing, like, instead of saying, are you overwhelmed and struggling? I'm trying to think on this why. And struggling with consistency. Instead you could say something like, you're not inconsistent.

You've just built a system that supports that business. I'm trying to think of this on the spot. Should have probably prepared an example ahead of time.

Joe Rando: It's called a chatGPT

Carly Ries: Exactly. But just, there's a difference between reinforcing a problem and speaking of the process, and then finally the outcome and who they are in the long run. But I know I'm on this kick with that conference that I went to a couple weeks ago. But one of the presenters spoke to this, and I was like, I am twenty years in the field of marketing. And I hadn't really heard it explained like that, and it really stuck with me.

Joe Rando: I mean, it's something I'm gonna have to process. But I know, a lot of times, the way I think about it. You wanna go in and you wanna hit them with the vision, the outcome, you know, this is the outcome. Right? You start with that.

That's your banner, if you will. And then you hit them with the pain points. And then you hit them with your solution.

But I've never talked about what the journey is gonna be like other than it's gonna get you from where you are to where you're trying to go. So that's interesting. the tricky part there, the thing I wanna think about is how that actually fits into say, a web homepage or a marketing piece. Because you know, there's an extra piece there.

It's gotta get put in the right way.

Carly Ries: See, Joe, that was the marketing example I was trying to think of on the spot that I should have probably just come up with ahead of time that we could have shared with our audience. So maybe we can do a social post or something about that for after the fact. But I think the thing that people can be asking themselves and the takeaway from this episode is just what identity is your audience currently stuck in? What do they wanna feel like while they're building? Whatever that is for your audience.

And then who do they believe they'll be once they succeed? And those three things could really impact your marketing moving forward.

Joe Rando: This is as opposed to putting your business name as your h one on your website?

Carly Ries: What? Don't do it. No. No.

Joe Rando: Don't do that. Don't do that. No. This is how you get people to pay attention and get interested and then hopefully convert.

Carly Ries: Mhmm. Maybe stick around for part two where we come up with examples. And don't just leave you hanging. And so, yeah, follow our channels and maybe you'll see something on there. But speaking of that, thank you for tuning in.

And please do follow our channel. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform including YouTube. We have so much fun content going on our YouTube channel right now. So check it out. You guys, please leave those reviews.

Ideally those five star reviews, but any reviews are so appreciated. It really helps us spread the word. We are ranked 2.5% out of globally, out of all podcasts, which is huge. And we're so excited about that, but we have been there for a little bit, and we'd love to see the needle move even further, and those reviews help us do that. And share this episode with a friend.

Because like I said, I've been doing this for twenty years, and I haven't quite heard the positioning like that. So hopefully somebody else finds useful, and we'll see you next time on the Aspiring Solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures?

At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.

About the Show

The Aspiring Solopreneur helps one-person business owners grow smarter, avoid burnout, and build businesses that support their lives, not consume them. Hosted by Carly Ries and Joe Rando, the show features practical strategies, real conversations, and expert insights for modern solopreneurs.