Content Writing — Do More Than You Think You Need To Do
I think it was the new age that led me to the idea of doing less. And I had the idea of doing less all wrong. It was as if I thought I could sit back and manifest a full calendar of consult calls with amazing clients to fill my membership and courses. Very little writing required from me, of course.
Doing less was appealing to me. Especially because for most of my life, I did more.
Like…
In college, I worked full-time and kept a full social calendar — I also left with no student debt
When I worked in management consulting, I’d log crazy hours at times — to meet an unreasonable deadline or pull together a proposal to sell more work so we could work more crazy hours
Then, when pregnant and in my corporate role as a new mom, I wanted to outwork everyone. Still, after three layoffs, it proved that doing more work doesn’t automatically equal more job security.
When still in corporate, I worked full time, commuted, started a blog and a side business, and did all the cooking and household management
I somehow got the crazy idea that the feminine job was to be like her egg at ovulation. Just sit there waiting. She wasn’t chasing, she was just sitting there putting off the signal. Sitting on the proverbial couch, letting opportunities come to her. Passive. Manifesting. Attracting.
Does this look like your business growth strategy?
This was appealing to me after 20 or so years of busting my ass. Maybe it’s because I was too much in my masculine energy, and I need to take a step back, embrace my feminine, and do less.
Except the idea of doing less was all wrong. I can embrace my feminine energy and do more of the right things.
Hustling and working hard have gotten such a bad rap over the years that WORK has become a dirty four-letter word.
What I should have done — was less of the stuff that didn’t matter and more of the stuff that did.
And less of the stuff that wasn’t working and more experimenting to see what did.
The mindset that would have served me better would have been…
Do less and write your ass off for the things that matter most.
I only started to clue into this when I saw how much work some entrepreneurs were really putting in behind the scenes. I had developed some habits that left me feeling complacent. And complacent and mediocre are not how I aim to show up.
I’d pride myself on working only 20 hours a week, which was great. But what could be possible if I focused for 30, 40, 50 hours instead?
Now, if you’re reading that and think you work much more than that because that’s how long you’re sitting at your desk, I’m talking about focused, head-down work. I used to track my time for my actual WORK. Not scrolling through social media thinking about work, procrastinating, or the texts and Voxer messages with business friends. Actual work. If you track your time, you might realize you’re working a lot less than you think. You can use a free tool like Toggl to track your time to get some data. Later, I broke up with time, so try not to obsess over the actual hours so much.
While I might be in front of a computer for 30-40 hours or more each week, it’s not all super focused time. My goal is to do more of that super-focused time.
Last year, it started to become urgent that I do more. Trying to do less was hurting my business. I know this. I teach this. Just updating a sales page doesn’t drive people to find out about it. I need to talk about it in as many places as possible and as often as I can.
What we should be doing more of — useful content planning, writing, and publishing.
Content creation takes WAY more hours, time, and consistency than most people think. And know that I’m only talking about useful, helpful content that has readers excited to see your next post because they know they’re going to learn something great. My content creation goes to planning, blogging, social media sharing, and newsletter writing.
I’ve seen business owners publish one blog a month and one social post a week and wonder why the clients aren’t showing up at their door. It takes massive action, especially if you’re just getting started.
Knowing I was making a pivot in my business to serve a different client and show up in a new way, I went back to the strategies that got my business off the ground.
Creating more content — two blogs a week most weeks
Sharing more on social media — and not just sharing more for the sake of more or using AI tools to put out mediocre content (I’m seeing lots of this, too), but talking about the things that people are asking me about, sharing at least once a day and up to three or more times a day. And, not stressing if I only end up posting three times a week. Quality is always better than quantity. I’m not sharing more to try to beat the algorithm — I’m sharing because I have endless inspiration.
Staying in touch with my network. I track all my clients, prospects, and connections in a simple spreadsheet and continue to stay in touch. Note, that I’m not reaching out to expect anything or ask for anything. Just a simple, “Hey! I love seeing the new house you’re building come together on social — how are you? Heading to any cool retreats this year?” And let the conversation go from there.
Carving out time to plan for each coming quarter and year
Dedicating a portion of time every week to reviewing and improving what I offer — in the writing community, many copywriting templates and resources get regular upgrades, and I’m always open to ideas that create a better experience for my students. Adding new on-demand classes and hosting free Co-Writing & Chill Sessions for the public.
Focused time to work on my latest book project (I have 9 titles I want to work on next… one at a time of course)
Outlining and creating a new program that I know will knock the socks off of most copywriting programs
As the CEO of my business, when I’m enjoying myself (also a Generator in Human Design thing) and having inspiring conversations that light me up — things change.
And I’m seeing the results of doing more. Last September, I went balls ovaries to the wall and committed to doing the things I said I’d do: creating, launching, connecting, and growing. And even though that resulted in a fully booked copywriting and coaching season, I’m STILL making sure to take the time to do all the things above, and more.
If you found this article helpful, read these next:
