After suffering through the first half of winter FREEZING in her home office - complaining…frustrated…angry…and finally resentful…

Jen finally went searching for a solution that didn’t cost too much and did the trick to solve the problem. She learned 3 lessons that - upon examination - she realized ALSO work with the top 3 content marketing problems she sees her clients struggling with all the time.

Tune in today to get your hands on these 3 SMALL shifts that will create a HUGE, positive impact on your content marketing - You know, just in case you’re feeling frustrated, angry, or mayyyyybe even resentful about YOUR creating content for your marketing. Let’s focus on ease & simplicity - and make all our lives easier in 2022!

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Full Transcript

Welcome to today's episode of Content Creation Made Easy. I am your host, Jen Liddy, and today you're going to walk away with three really simple, small shifts you can make that will make your content creation easier, that will have a huge impact on your content. And I'm going to get you there by talking about what I'm struggling with right now.

So it is February. I live in Syracuse, New York.

It has been horribly cold here, like, 5°F horrible. And I know that when I talk to people who don't live in this kind of weather, they can't fathom what five degrees even feels like. 

But honestly, we've been vacillating between -8°F and 12°F for a long time this winter. And it, really wears on me. 

Additionally, outside it's cold, but also inside it's cold.

In fact, I have these three huge windows in my office, and they're floor to ceiling almost, but they're 115 years old. 

We actually call our house “Breezy Windows”. Like, you stand by the windows and your hair kind of blows. 

So I've been cold a lot. 

I have a blanket.
I have warm socks.
I've actually even spent money going away on a workcation so that I could get warmer. 

I feel like I've done a lot of things to try to solve my problem. 

These are, like, the short-term solutions to my problem.

But mostly I have not been able to get warm and I've been cursing a lot. 

So I want to talk today about this short-term solution to this problem that there's, like, just one thing I really hadn't thought of as a problem. 

I mean, I'm thinking of everything. 

Not only have I booked two trips to Florida (and P.S. it was 37°F in Florida the first time I went) I started a savings account to get new windows so I could be warm all winter long.

And additionally, I really do have a long term vision of moving someplace warm. 

But those two things are not immediate solutions to my problems. 

So I started thinking about, like, my husband also works from home, and he's upstairs on the back porch where it is literally cold. 

It's like an enclosed back porch, and he seems happy as a clam up there. 

So I'm always like, what is he doing that's so different?

Granted, he tolerates the cold differently than I do, but what's he doing up there? 

So I asked him, like, how do you stay comfortable and warm up there? 

And he goes, “I have a space heater.”

How did I not think of space heater as the solution to my problem? Duh.

And so I wanted to talk to you about this really moment I had today. Because a lot of times we're making everything harder for ourselves in solving our content and marketing problems. 

And it really could be as easy as something like “Duh, a space heater.”

The best news is I didn't even have to go to “The Orange Store”, which is what I call a Home Depot, because I really hate Home Depot. I didn't have to go buy myself a heater.

I literally sent John a text that said, “Hey, when you're out today, can you pick me up a space heater?” And he said, “Sure.”

So now I don't even have to leave the house to go get this thing. 

He comes home that afternoon with a beautiful space heater. He said it cost $90.

And I know that if I would have gone out to buy a space heater, I probably would have cheaped out on myself and gotten the small one and said it was good enough. 

But having somebody else do it, he just took care of it. Right? 

And this one gets bigger and it oscillates and it does the trick.

And I really started thinking about how much energy I have already spent complaining about how cold I am and how much money I have already spent on things that really didn't solve my problem.

So yeah, getting to Florida twice is nice, but it doesn't solve my problem on a day-to-day basis about how cold I am in my office. I spend a lot of time in my office. 

So I was really thinking about the space heater solution, and I thought, “Okay, these are three lessons that I took away from this”. 

And I want to break down each lesson for you. Here are the three lessons. And then today I'm going to break them down for you, and we're going to talk about how you can apply these lessons directly and immediately to your content marketing.

So the big three shifts that solve my problem were…

1. Considering that there might be an easier solution than the ones I've already thought of. How can this be easy? 

Like, I have a client that I ask this to her all the time. How could this be easy? 

And when I did ask that question, I got an answer for my cold problem. Space heater.

We'll talk about this a little bit more in depth with your content. 

The second lesson was…

2. Get someone else involved. People will do shit for you when you ask them to do shit for you. 

And then the third lesson is…

3. Everything is a long game. And there are some right now, simple, easy solutions, good enough solutions, and there are some long term solutions.

So we know that everything is a long game, but how can you get some relief right now? And that is the third lesson. 

So in your content marketing, I would guess that you are suffering with something that's like making you feel stressed out, uncomfortable, frustrated, overwhelmed. Maybe, like you're really in the deep end of the pool all the time. 

So let's talk deeper about these takeaways and how you can take what I learned in my real life and translate it to your content marketing and business. 

So let's go to shift number one, which is there might be an easier solution than the one you are thinking of or have thought of.

Now, this is a biggie because our brains just want to make things more complicated than is necessary. We overthink. 

Like, do I have any overthinkers out there?
Are you an overthinker? 

We overanalyze, and we generally over concern ourselves with something.

I want to let you in on a huge secret about creating content that you just will not want to believe.
You can repeat yourself with your content. 

In fact, if you don't repeat yourself, your audience is never going to hear you because people hear something once and it kind of bounces off of them. They don't quite get it. 

It is when we say things over and over in different ways, with different stories and different examples that they finally absorb it.

Now, if you think about the rest of your life, this makes a lot of sense. You're going to be like, why aren't I using this in my business? 

Think about the people in your life. 

Do you have children who live with you?
Do you have a spouse or a partner who lives with you?
Do you have people that you manage, or are you being managed by somebody?
Do you have a colleague that needs to hear things 17 and a half times before they get it? 

People are just so overwhelmed, right? Like, they're overloaded, they're kind of listening, they're scanning, they're not always paying 100% attention. 

And these are people like, I'm talking about the people in your family who don't hear you.

They love you. They really are personally invested in you, and even they don't pick up what you're putting down the first time that you do it. Right? 

So lesson number one, there might be an easier solution to your content than you think. And an easier solution right now is to stop reinventing the wheel every time you have something to say.

Go ahead and repeat yourself. 

You are already doing it in another part of your life, especially if you have kids. 

And I always tell my clients, you're going to get bored with your content way faster than your audience is. So when you are repeating yourself, don't worry about “My audience is going to get so bored with this.” 

They're not because they love your voice, your way of saying it, your stories.

That's what you actually have to manage when it comes to your content creation, your own itch to say something different and to say something more. 

But basically, once you've got your content pillars down, you know what you want to talk about. You've got your brand messaging down. We're going to be saying a lot of the same things.

Don't make it harder than it needs to be. Go for that simple solution. 

Lesson number two, to make content creation much simpler, for you is to get someone else involved. That was my second lesson.

Somebody will help if I just asked him. My husband is very happy to help. I just had to let him know I needed help. Right?

So this lesson actually shows up every single time I start working with a new client, whether it's a mastermind client or the membership client. And here's how.

My client will tell me like, “I don't know what to say. I don't know how to say it. I feel like I'm invisible online. Nobody's interacting, nobody's converting.”

And it doesn't matter where they are. They can be on socials, they can be on email, they can do a blog, they can do podcasts, whatever it is. They just feel like nobody's interacting. 

So this is what I always start with. 

Have you talked to people who actually have the problem that you want to solve for? Have you chatted with your ideal audience members?

Have you interviewed your target market? 

Now, 100% of the time that they're struggling, the answer has been, “Well, not really.”

And that's the thing. Nobody wants to bother to do these interviews. But you need to know something.

When you talk to potential customers, potential audience members about the problem that you solve and you learn everything that they have to say, your content is going to get a lot easier. 

Why don't you want to do these interviews? Well, they take time. They take effort. 

Maybe you feel like you're bothering people, maybe you're highly introverted and you're afraid it's going to deplete you.

Those are all fine excuses, but ultimately you need to ask these people for help because that's what's going to change your content capital completely. 

So when you do talk to these ideal potential customers, they are going to tell you so much. 

They are happy to talk about their problems.
People love to talk about their problems.

And if you're just there to receive it and listen and take copious verbatim notes, your content is actually going to get a lot easier to create. 

Why? 

• Because then you're going to be using the exact language that they use. 
• You're going to be creating offers that they want. 
• You're going to be using content that lands with them because you're speaking their language and mirroring for them.

These interviews, they're called target market interviews. I'll give you a resource at the end of today's podcast with how to do it. Like step by step, literally, they get you the exact customer and audience language that has been eluding you and making your content harder. 

And I call it basically they give you content gold.

So I'm telling you, ask people to help you and you will learn exactly what to say and what not to say in your content.

At the end, I will definitely give you my system for that. 

Now, again, this is lesson two, which is ask somebody for help and you're asking your potential audience for help. 

You know, people who have the problem that you want to solve or you get on your social media and you say, “Hey, I really want to talk to people who have XYZ. Are you willing to have a 30 minutes chat with me?”

It's really not hard. I break it down step by step. 

Okay, let's move on to lesson three, which is that everything is a long game and that there are some right now good enough solutions and there are some long-term solutions. 

But the question is, right now, in the moment, how can you get some relief right now? 

Relief right now is a vital step for you to get out of your immediate content marketing hell. I promise you.

Relief right now was what I was looking for when I went to Florida to escape from the 5°F weather. And all I wound up with was a lousy 37°F degree vacation. 

But anyway, something that will bring you relief right now is to stop doing one thing in your content marketing that isn't working for you. 

You may be trying to overhaul everything, like you may be just working on this and that and the other thing, and then this thing, too, and also that. 

But until you figure out what's not working, you're going to just be spinning your wheels and feel even more overwhelmed by content. So this is a good place to assess for relief right now. 

Is there a platform that you need to stop using, get off of, just end your relationship with it? 

Because it's just one of those things that never works for you. 

If you can't find your voice there or you're not getting any traction there and it's just depleting you and you don't like it, what would happen if you just stopped doing that one thing while you worked out what the better solution is? 

Or is there someone that can help you manage this stuff even in two to 3 hours a week?

Without my virtual assistant, I would really not have the business that I have. 

And at first, we started with 2 hours a week, then 5 hours a week. She's up to 10 hours a week, but what she can get done in 10 hours is unbelievable to me. 

And so if you've been telling yourself, “I can't hire somebody, I can't afford somebody”, I promise you there is a solution. 

And it might be either letting go of some stuff or adding some help on maybe, you know, a teenager who's looking for some hours for community service or they're looking for internship hours.

It might be that even somebody like that could help you. 

You have to get creative and ask yourself, what do I need? What do I want? And that really requires you to get quiet and stop the panic. 

So for lesson number three, which is how can I get some relief right now?

You have to be quiet.
You have to ask yourself what can I let go of or what do I need to bring in? 

What would feel good and these are not questions that are easily answered. 

I know I'm like running over them quickly but these are not easily answered questions so take time with that. You might need a social media hiatus.

You might need to spend some time unsubscribing from some of the noise in your inbox. 

Whatever it is, get some relief right now and what is that for you I would really love to hear so you can always contact me at [email protected] and let me know or you can leave a comment or a review for this podcast and let me know. 

What are the AH-A's you're having about how to make what is your version of the simple fix of a space heater? 

What could it be for you? 

If you're looking for relief and you want more support, the content creator studio was built for you.

That's where we meet every week. You have the opportunity to get on a call with me, ask your questions, learn content tweaks basically have a community of people who are looking for content that's easy, sustainable and realistic and that's what we do in there.

We're all about getting out of the content chaos inside the studio so if you're looking for feedback, trainings, implementation time to just actually get this stuff done in a bite size format.

Come on over to https://www.jenliddy.com/studio  and learn all about it, see if it's a good fit for you.

But right now the biggest question you can probably ask yourself is what's my version of the space heater solution? How can I ask for help? 

Get some relief right now these small shifts will make a huge difference in your content. 

I would love to hear from you so you can always reach out to me and again, I thank you every week for being here to listen and if you could rate, review and share I would still appreciate it because I know how many people struggle with messaging and copy and content and it doesn't have to be so hard so if you have a friend who is struggling please share. I'd appreciate it.

I will see you next week. Thanks for showing up. Bye.