I’m just going to tell you right now how to be successful with your content and build a massive following. You ready for it? Here it is:
Create high quality content consistently over a long period of time.
That’s it.
If your content is struggling, it almost always comes down to at least one of these 3 things:
The quality thing might take some time. That’s a skill that has to be developed. You’ve gotta get good at delivering information in an interesting way that people want to pay attention to.
But the other two really just boil down to habits and routine.
Just like entrepreneurship (or almost anything in life), the only way to fail is to quit.
So you post a video today, and then tomorrow, and then the next day, and the next day, and you just don’t stop.
So to help you with that today, here’s some of my best tips to make that happen:
My first tip is probably somewhat unconventional but I honestly think this may be the most import part of this whole letter.
When you’re working to create content consistently online and build your brand, there will be days when it just doesn’t happen.
You’re busy. You’ve got a lot going on. You’ve got a business to run.
If you miss a day… it’s okay.
Something James Clear says in Atomic Habits really stood out to me:
Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.
If you miss one day of posting on Instagram, or you didn’t publish a YouTube video this week… give yourself a break. And then make sure you don’t miss the next one.
Last week I missed sending out this newsletter. And this week I’m sending it out 2 days late.
I almost missed twice, and therefore almost started a bad new habit. But this quote reminded me to tell myself it’s okay, and then make sure I don’t miss this week.
(Big thanks to some of you who gently reminded me in my inbox as well 😉)
One of the biggest reasons people (especially entrepreneurs) struggle to create content consistently is because they’re not creating what they want to create.
There’s a lot of pressure to talk about what your business is about. To focus on what’s going to go viral, or get engagement. Or to create whatever it takes to get a few more sales calls for your team.
But at the end of the day, if you’re not talking about what you love talking about, and you’re just doing it for an outcome, you’re probably gonna get burned out.
I used to get spurts of motivation to create content whenever I would go to a conference or event and one of the speakers would talk about how important it is.
And then I would publish consistently for a couple weeks, determined to keep it going this time, before ultimately petering out.
It took way too long for me to realize that the reason this kept happening was because the content I was creating wasn’t aligned with me.
I was creating what I thought I had to create. Not what I wanted to create.
I was hiding parts of my personality, values that I held, beliefs that I had, because I didn’t think my audience would like them.
That’s a problem.
Content creation is a personal journey. Make sure your content is aligned with you.
I’m sitting here writing today, about 1 week away from the due date of my third daughter.
I know full well that in the coming weeks it’s going to be really hard for me to get newsletters written and posts created and videos made.
Not only because I’ll be preoccupied with a new baby, but I also know that I’ll be sleep deprived, which is not good for creativity.
So what am I doing to make sure the content keeps flowing? Batching.
When I sit down to create, I don’t just write one piece of content. When the inspiration strikes, I hang onto it for as long as I can and keep going until it runs out.
Whatever you do, don’t expect to set a routine to wake up every morning and create content for that day, and then do it all over the next day.
I know people who have done it, but I would guess probably 99.9% of people don’t have the persistency to keep it going long term.
Plus, things get in the way.
So batch your content.
I sit down and write my newsletters in Notion. Every newsletter is tagged with a go live date, so my team knows when to publish it.
When I have tweet ideas, I plug them into Hypefury. They automatically go into the next slot I have on my schedule and get posted one at a time.
I batch record videos about once or twice a month so they’re all ready to drip out based on my content calendar.
When I’m in a healthy place, I’ll usually have 2–3 weeks worth of content all queued up ready to go out.
That means I can go have a baby, and the content keeps flowing.
I wrote a whole newsletter on this a few weeks ago, so I won’t spend too much time on it here.
If you really want to become a prolific content creator and achieve that omnipresence that everyone so highly talks about without killing yourself trying to be on every platform at once… this is the key.
This way you can focus the majority of your effort creating for one or two platforms, and the rest gets created almost entirely by it’s self.
Speaking of which…
Especially if you’re just starting out, this is crucially important.
Don’t feel like you have to make every type of content consistently. I know, you see all your favorite influencers and creators creating videos and tweets and podcasts and blogs like it’s a walk in the park…
But take it from me… it’s not.
Even the biggest content creators in the world usually have one platform that they’re way bigger on than the other ones.
Mr. Beast? YouTube.
Elon Musk? Twitter.
Ninja? Twitch.
But it’s not necessarily about just posting on one platform, it’s about focusing on one content type.
You like to write? Write a blog and repurpose to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
You like to make short videos? Make shorts and post them to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
You just like to talk? Make a video podcast and repurposed clips to TT, IG, YT, FB, LI, Twitter, and Threads.
I’m giving you permission right now to just focus on one content type. Get really insanely good at it. Start building your content library. Start building your team. Then, when you have the capacity, diversify. But one step at a time.
When I finally unlocked consistent content creation, it actually worked this time (after dozens of failed attempts over more than a decade) because of one thing:
I built a team.
Creating quality content consistently over a long period of time is no joke.
It takes a serious commitment. There’s a lot of moving pieces. It’s almost like an entire business in and of itself.
But it is so worth it.
It’s okay if you’re just starting out and you want to DIY your content for now, but at some point when you’re ready to build a serious personal brand, you’ve gotta be thinking about WHO, not HOW.
This can be as simple as getting a social media VA and a video editor. And then it grows from there.
My team consists of content writers, strategists, graphic designers, editors, videographers, and more.
(By the way, you can work with them too if you want)
The advantage of having a team like this is that I get to focus the majority of my attention on being a thought leader, going deeper into my craft, and leading the direction of my brand and company.
While my team takes care of all the production around that to make content go out like clockwork.
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What was your favorite tip? What other questions do you have about creativity, content creation, personal branding, and online business? Hit reply and let me know. I read every response.
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…and you’re ready to take your brand, your content, and your business to the next level, here’s a few ways I can help you:
1. Join my free Skool community - and get free content, trainings, industry updates, and network with other amazing creators.
2. Join my free workshop to learn how to build your content production system and send a flow of leads to your business.
3. Book a free strategy session - I’m opening a few slots on my calendar to meet with serious entrepreneurs who want to grow their audience and their business. I’ll look at what you’ve got going on and help you develop a winning strategy.
