Making more creative runway for new ideas
Earlier this summer, I chose to make life easier on myself when it comes to marketing my work. And the funny thing is that I love creating. I love producing podcast episodes. I love writing anything. I love shooting how-to videos. I love designing online training. I love building websites in Squarespace. I love recording audio guides and relaxing meditations. Creating equals a very happy Pappy.
However, I’d gotten myself on such a “creation” bandwagon that, when it finally hit me I was like, “Do I really need to do all this for my business?” (Translated=”Why am I working so hard?”)
Content marketing is important in creating awareness and getting your brand in front of your people. To market content, you have to create content, right? Well, the effort of creating is a big part (and it has to be GOOD), however, smart business owners know that the ratio should be 20% creating and 80% promoting. That way, they don’t get bogged down with the creating labor time and expense. For example, create one great case study and schedule the promotion of it across multiple platforms to leverage what you’ve created.
For me, however, the problem was that I was 80% content creation and barely 20% promotion. (talk about calling yourself out, Terry!) LOL. Why? Because I LOVE TO CREATE, not promote. Self-awareness, check.
What prompted this Journal article was what opened up when I decided to change a few things regarding content creation. The toughest decision was to pause the Simplify & Multiply podcast. After publishing 126 episodes, I decided it was time to take a break. For nearly all of those episodes, the show was a pure joy and one of my favorite things to do in my business. (Learn more details by listening to my final show here). But it was time for a pause and greater reflection.
Another content creation passion was shooting how-to videos for my YouTubeTerry.com channel. I still love shooting videos, but the production was time consuming since I did it all in-house, plus, I felt I was in a bit of a content rut. I felt that the “how-to video” approach was getting stale for me.
Here’s the big aha for me regarding creativity: If I get bored with what I’m creating, I lose the passion for doing that particular creative project and move on to something else.
As I’ve mentioned in previous Journal articles, inception and bringing a new idea into reality—aka the creative act—is where the juice is for me. Birthing new ideas, creating new projects, helping in new ways, that revs my engine. Instead of fighting that propensity for constant creative evolution, I embraced it by giving myself more creative runway.
Here’s what I changed to create more creative runway:
I paused the podcast and wrapped the Simplify & Multiply show. I feel complete and that the nearly three years of producing a weekly show was an accomplishment I am very proud of, and every episode has good shelf life listeners will continue to enjoy for years to come.
I paused creating YouTubeTerry videos. I will return to doing more videos as I love creating them, however, I will give myself more grace in being a weekly production machine. I’ll do them when I’m inspired to do so and on topics that are 1000% me and address the current issues my audience struggles with.
I transitioned the paid PappyClub membership site into free content for YOU as a subscriber of the PappyClub Journal. No more effort needed to figure out how to market PappyClub memberships.
I consolidated everything into TPappy.com, this site, and will be doing a redux of the Simplify & Multiply show in a new RSS feed on TPappy.com next year, eliminating the need for the separate website.
Instead of having three sites (Better3.com, SimplifyandMultiply.com and PappyClub.com) I consolidated them all into TPappy.com which is saving me hundreds of dollars and marketing time each year.
I canceled my CRM, Copper, and now use Google contacts to stay on top of prospecting.
I gave myself a “year off” (thank you, Achim Nowak), of actively marketing and selling. Ahhhh. What a relief.
I canceled my email automation subscription to ActiveCampaign, and brought all of my email marketing into Squarespace.
I changed my ActiveCampaign newsletter, Monday Motivators, to the current PappyClub Journal, which you receive via email as a subscriber. The intention of this newsletter is to demonstrate my 1000%, inform, inspire and enhance my connection with YOU so you get to know who I am and as you do, you also get reinvigorated about your business, your creativity, and how you can enjoy your business that much more. Plus, you won’t feel like you’re the only one going through the highs and lows of being a solopreneur.
All of these changes have been a HUGE relief to me. I created more runway for creativity, for helping clients even more powerfully, and for the enjoyment of my business and life so much more. (Not that I wasn’t enjoying it before, but you get what I mean.)
It’s also making more creative runway for me and I’m having a blast with my painting, but also considering new projects to add value to my audience and clients. Maybe another book? Hmmm… Maybe an online course? That would be fun. Now I have the mental space and heart space to encourage new ideas and creativity to get me back into that inception mode where I have the highest passion.
For you:
Where in your business can you create more runway to do what excites you? Where and how can you reinvigorate your creativity? What do you love most to do in your work? What can you delegate, simplify or completely eliminate from your business that isn’t thrilling you or bringing in new clients? Ask yourself, “What would happen if I stopped doing this and started doing that?” Only you know the answers. See what opens up when YOU decide to make more creative runway for new ideas. You and your business will prosper as a result.
