Break the seal and the floodgates will open
Break the seal on your creativity…
…and the idea floodgates will open - whether you’re ready or not, :)
When I talk to a speaker, author or coach about content creation and share with them my schedule of 3 blogs per week and 365 social posts a year, the typical response is something like, “wow, that’s a lot. I could never do that.”
Bullshit! Of course you can! You just haven’t learned how to do it, yet.
After all, you think that I was born to write? You think I had this burning desire to spend hours writing all this stuff?
Hell no!
BUT…
I am a business owner and I want to be seen as the authority in my space, and the best way to do that is to share content that positions me as such by sharing immense value with an audience that I serve.
SO…
I manifest this expertise in post…after post…after post.., :)
What’s ironic about the process is that once you get past what’s holding you back from writing content that illustrates your expertise, you never worry about running out of ideas again…but, of course, you still need get past it before you can find that rhythm.
When I committed to a 3x weekly blog schedule, I was pretty hesitant at the beginning - okay, I’ll be honest - I was freaking out that I would run out of ideas within 2 months tops. I told the person who suggested I commit to this schedule that he was out of his mind to think I could keep up with that amount of writing.
This fear almost put the kibosh on the whole idea before it began, but, I decided to fight past the self-defeating thoughts and really give it an honest shot.
Over a year and a half later, I’m still waiting to run out of ideas - actually, I’m not waiting for shit, I’m just steamrolling through with an onslaught of magical posts, :)
I am in the fortunate position of being three months ahead on my social and blog content calendars.
(funny side note about that - it’s really weird writing about Christmas and New Years in September, lol)
So, how did I go from hesitant to full-steam ahead?
I committed to the process, and figured out how to set myself up for success when I would sit down to write.
First, I began to collect and organize all of my idea nuggets in one place. I got rid of the random post-it notes, cocktail napkins and back of envelopes that had random notes scribbled on it, and consolidated all of my ideas onto my phone.
Then, I experimented, and eventually discovered, which time of day works best for me to write, and did my best to shut off all distractions during my writing time.
Once those two huge pieces were in place, I just started to flesh out all of these random, idea nuggets during the time I set aside to create content.
Do that until the process becomes routine, and from there, the magic happens, :)
The writing process becomes much more organic, the stress levels surrounding this aspect of your marketing decrease dramatically or evaporate altogether, and your focus shifts from merely worrying about the act of writing to the quality and impact of your work on those you serve.
The key for this to snowball in a positive way is to break the seal and allow yourself the opportunity to create.
Yes, there is a lot to writing memorable and shareable content, but, at the beginning, it’s all about putting yourself in a place to succeed and get a feel for what that looks like to you.
Once you allow yourself to get over the hump with sitting in front of your computer and banging ideas out like there is no tomorrow, that’s when you can really focus on refining your message and writing in your own voice.
I was on the phone the other day with a fellow photographer and he has a major block - when it comes to creating content for his headshot business, he draws a blank.
I shared with him a trick that worked for me when I first started writing consistently.
Every morning, after a quick coffee sip or three, I would pull out my laptop and write stream of conscious thoughts for the first 10-30 minutes of my day.
I didn’t care what I wrote about or how much sense the words made, I was more focused on creating a positive and productive habit in my life.
Eventually, that stream of conscious writing became more focused when I started to shift my attention from writing about whatever was on my mind to writing very generally about client pain points and how to solve them based on my expertise. No plan as to how to leverage the writing - I just wanted to get used to writing.
Then, my morning writing time morphed into the time where I was writing complete posts from beginning to end.
Now, when I sit down to write social and blog posts, I will start to write one post, and will get inspiration for a handful of others, so when I finish the initial piece, I already have the next ones on deck in front of me!
Rather than continuing to cut yourself off at the knees by saying that there is no way in hell that you can create content on a consistent basis, allow yourself the space to prove yourself wrong. Allow yourself the space to simply get used to being in front of a computer and type out ideas that come into your head.
Build those neural pathways in your mind to set up your creativity for years to come. Trust that the process of creativity will pay you back in spades by showering you with constant ideas that will resonate deeply with your audience and inspire them to have trust in you and your thought leadership.
But most importantly, STOP PROCRASTINATING - your audience is desperate to hear what you have to say - stop making them wait!
If you are looking for help with finding the inspiration to write, I know a guy that can help you with that, :)
I have an intensive one-on-one program that helps you learn the process of idea generation and content creation so you never have to struggle discovering ideas ever again.
It’s called the Idea Nugget Incubator Program - and you can check it out here.
Schedule a call with me to see if we’re a fit to work together.
PS - For those of you who aren’t in the know, I mail out these blogs 3x a week, and lemme tell you, they’re a real party, so, if you’d like to get in on this, sign up for it here and I’ll throw in a free gift for you, because I care, :)