0:24

If you're feeling burnt out

0:24

by making content and the sheer volume of having

0:28

to make more and more and more

0:28

and more and more, this podcast episode is

0:32

for you. And as a side note,

0:32

it is for me as well. I've talked about this

0:35

before where I personally experience

0:35

a lot of content stress and I overthink and

0:39

I still do it. One of the things

0:39

that I've done recently is I have a couple

0:43

of content buddies where I,

0:43

when I get into that zone. I share my content

0:48

ideas with them and we kind

0:48

of work through it together. So maybe that'll

0:51

be something that'll be helpful

0:51

for you because you know, we get stuck in our

0:54

own content and our own, our

0:54

own ideas and we overthink it. And sometimes

0:58

having that fresh perspective

0:58

of somebody not having any idea what you're

1:02

trying to convey, but like

1:02

seize all these puzzle pieces can put the puzzle

1:06

together. It's kind of like

1:06

when you've got the puzzle out there and the

1:10

one space that you've been

1:10

looking for and somebody else comes along and

1:13

easily just picks it up and

1:13

they're like, oh. here it is and pops it right

1:16

in the puzzle. Oh my gosh,

1:16

that drives me bonkers. So if you are feeling

1:23

overwhelmed, this podcast is

1:23

for you. And I'm gonna give you a quick warning

1:27

because this content advice

1:27

is controversial. The content advice is simply

1:33

this, stop building a content

1:33

machine. If I read one more blog post or hear

1:42

somebody or see a title for

1:42

a session that says build a content machine

1:46

or anything having to do with,

1:46

you know, make 128 pieces of content and repurpose

1:51

them and then put them through

1:51

chat GPT and spit them out here. Yes, if you

1:56

want to do that and that is

1:56

not taxing you, that is not burning you out.

2:01

Great. But I'm here to tell

2:01

you that your ideal customer doesn't need 63

2:08

pieces of content to determine

2:08

if they're going to trust you, to determine

2:12

even if you are competent or

2:12

likable or familiar. And the idea of having

2:18

to constantly make content

2:18

all day long, it's crushing your soul and it's

2:24

pressuring you to post something

2:24

just to post it. Now, we could have the quantity

2:30

versus quantity. quality debate

2:30

all day long. And I think you know where I

2:33

stand on that. And there are

2:33

times when, you know, I could say, listen,

2:37

if you're an overthinker, just

2:37

post the darn thing. And you might say, but

2:41

I thought you said quality

2:41

over quantity. I'm thinking of it more like

2:45

this. More is only better if

2:45

it's better. for you and your mental health

2:53

and sustainability and also

2:53

for your audience. And in my opinion, also

2:57

for the algorithm. I don't

2:57

think the algorithm quote, needs more of your

3:03

content. It needs you to have

3:03

attention. It needs your communication. That's

3:10

your comments and your DMs

3:10

to, you know, fuel the system and determine

3:14

what kind of content to share

3:14

with you. But if you are feeling less than

3:17

or stressed because you are

3:17

not posting every single day, or multiple times

3:21

a day. I wanna let you know

3:21

that we've talked about this too. There are

3:24

seasons of your business, of

3:24

your life, of your mental health, of your emotional

3:28

health. And I'm in the season

3:28

of my life where I have personally decided

3:35

to not post because it's Wednesday

3:35

at 12 o'clock and that's what I put on my calendar.

3:40

And I feel like I have to create

3:40

something and that pressure is mounting. I

3:45

am still finding my way with

3:45

content and batching and creating. What I've

3:49

done now is I brain dump all

3:49

of my sort of one-liners slash quotes into

3:55

Canva graphics so that they're

3:55

all ready to go and I can pick and choose from

3:59

them. I have this ongoing list

3:59

of quotes, if you will, inside of Canva and

4:04

it's all ready to go when something

4:04

jumps out at me and I'm like, okay, here's

4:07

an idea that I want to run

4:07

with. I'm really a big believer in this. It's

4:12

not necessarily about... content,

4:12

it's about context. And this is also a show

4:16

that I talked about years ago

4:16

with the difference between content and context

4:20

is, content is the actual thing.

4:20

It's the post, right? And it could be a market

4:25

update. It could be something

4:25

that is talking about your new listing. It

4:29

can be the five reasons, blah,

4:29

blah, blah. And the idea here is that it's

4:35

not just about posting content.

4:35

If it was, we'd all be winning. We'd all just

4:40

go to Canva and we would just

4:40

download whatever and we'd post it up every

4:43

single day and we would reel

4:43

in the leads. But that's not what's working

4:49

because if it was, we would

4:49

all be winning. There's no shortage of content,

4:55

content ideas or templates

4:55

everywhere. I love templates. I use Canva on

4:59

the daily and I take that template,

4:59

that guideline, that tool, and I put my context

5:07

into it. which is the personality,

5:07

the perspective, the hot take, the controversial

5:12

unpopular opinion. One of the

5:12

unpopular opinions I have is that stop making

5:19

a content machine because it's

5:19

probably burning you out and it's soul sucking

5:24

and you feel like you have

5:24

to keep showing up. So you just start posting

5:27

something or you hire someone

5:27

or maybe you hire someone and you realize you're

5:30

like, I shouldn't have even

5:30

done that because I don't even love the, it's

5:33

not resonating with me, the

5:33

content they're putting out there. Now I feel

5:36

like I've spent all this money

5:36

and You know, we let these pressures of having

5:41

to do and keep up really paralyze

5:41

us or make, you know, decisions that perhaps

5:47

if we had just taken a step

5:47

back, we wouldn't have made. And I am talking

5:50

to myself. I'm literally like

5:50

imagining myself sitting here because I go

5:55

through this too. I'm like,

5:55

oh my gosh, I only posted once this week in

6:00

the feed. But you know what?

6:00

I talked to people and talk to people every

6:05

day. And I know where my sustainability

6:05

line is. I also know that I just can't do it

6:13

all. And there are things that

6:13

I'm doing, and I enjoy more, like talking to

6:16

people. And so context is about

6:16

creating consistency for your audience, but

6:26

also for you. And let's just

6:26

throw in the algorithm for good measure. Okay,

6:29

but consistency doesn't mean

6:29

daily. Views don't equal value. and this constant

6:36

pressure to create more, create

6:36

more, create more. My best tip is if you do

6:41

want to create a content machine

6:41

and you are feeling a little bit stressed about

6:45

having new ideas, just go back

6:45

to the old ideas. That's also something that

6:49

I struggled with for a really

6:49

long time. Like, oh, last year I made a post

6:53

about that. Well, you know

6:53

what? I'm just going to recreate it. I'm going

6:57

to recycle it, refresh it,

6:57

give my new spin on it. And so that's a really.

7:03

easy, low pressure way to go

7:03

back to your content. So this is your reminder,

7:07

this is your sign that if you

7:07

haven't gone back to recycle or review ideas

7:12

that you have posted six months

7:12

ago, six weeks ago, a year ago, here is your

7:16

time. Put it into a reel or

7:16

if you made a video out of it, make it into

7:21

a carousel. And ultimately

7:21

remember that if you want to build a content

7:26

machine, you can and you don't

7:26

have to build a content machine and if you're

7:32

frustrated because you feel

7:32

like you have been pushing out a lot of content,

7:36

ask yourself is it missing

7:36

the context? Context about why this person

7:42

should trust you. Market stats,

7:42

house tours, testimonials, that's all content

7:47

and it's all good content as

7:47

long as it has context which is the relatable

7:52

story behind it, your personality,

7:52

your perspective, all of those things are uniquely

7:57

you. And I would argue that

7:57

your future client doesn't necessarily need

8:03

all of these pieces of content

8:03

library to develop that trust with you. They

8:07

just need to know, can I trust

8:07

you that you can help me achieve my goals?

8:14

Not necessarily is now a good

8:14

time to buy or sell. And again, don't get me

8:18

wrong. I am not saying you

8:18

should not make that content. If it's the only

8:22

thing that you're making and

8:22

it does not have the context, which is how

8:27

you make the thing. have meaning

8:27

to someone's head and their heart, i.e. you're

8:31

gonna put your face in it,

8:31

your voice. You're gonna give your opinion,

8:35

your hot take. You're gonna

8:35

say, oh my gosh, once upon a time I made this

8:38

huge mistake about this and

8:38

here's what I learned. That is uniquely the

8:43

context that shows people who

8:43

you really are can make a stranger feel like

8:46

they already know you. It's

8:46

the humanity, right? Like people say that the

8:50

content is you. Well, the context

8:50

is you. And so if you've been struggling with

8:56

this, I'm giving you the permission

8:56

to not build a content machine. Or maybe look

9:01

at it in a different way that

9:01

your commentary, your engagement, your communication

9:07

is your most important form

9:07

of content. So while this may seem a little

9:12

bit controversial, I'm a big

9:12

believer in stop building a content machine.

9:17

Start creating a context machine,

9:17

a context conduit, if you will. that can connect

9:26

people to you and the unique

9:26

part of why you're qualified and you're trustworthy

9:34

to be able to help that person

9:34

solve their problems.