So it seems pretty apt that this episode is falling right at the end of the year, when we all are thinking about what we would do differently (and hopefully better) next year in our lives and businesses.

And for me more self care is always on my list, because one of the biggest learnings for me over the last couple of years has been that when I feel good, things go well for me, and when I feel bad the car breaks down, I drop passata down my new white blouse and the kids turn into bats out of hell. It took me like forever to realise that the feeling good has to come first for things to go well, rather than the other way around, and it’s something I’m still learning.

So what in the heck has this got to do with content, I hear you scream? Well, obviously your content is your marketing, and without marketing you don’t attract new clients; but when fitting content creation into your schedule only feels like a stress and a chore because your life just feels like one big stress and chore, that content you’ve spent hours creating will never get the same results as something you couldn’t wait to share.

The energy with which we create anything can be felt in it’s very substance, whether that’s a tray of chocolate muffins for your kiddos, or an instagram post for your soulmate customers and fans.

So in this episode that’s what I’m talking about. How feeling good first, is the secret to creating daily inspired content that flows to me and through with ease.

HOW TO LISTEN

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Transcript

I’m going to start with a story, which might sound familiar to you: When I first started creating content for my business, I focused on the STRATEGY.

I spent hours batching, scheduling, creating launch content and tapping out  facebook posts (usually while serving up the kids dinner or sitting on the bathroom floor while they were in the bath because there was so much to do and no boundaries around my time.

And it got results, because I started getting people through the doors of my programs, which was HUGE for a total newbie. But…

I was totally F R I E D.

And in March 2020 I was mentally and physically a shell of the former woman I was, and I even went to the doctors because I actually thought the must be something systemic wrong. Aside from a slight vitamin deficiency, there wasn’t. She confirmed I was most likely suffering fromburn out. 

And at the time I had an 18 month old and a 5 year old so I knew things had to seriously change. I knew things had to change.

❌ I was not Amy Porterfield, with a team of digital managers

❌ I was not Denise Duffield Thomas with an army of household staff doing the school runs, cooking the meals, changing the bed sheets and labelling the school uniforms

❌ I was not Jenna Kutcher with a marketing budget as big as my mortgage

(Not yet, anyway 😜)

So I had to honour where I was.  Which was (mainly) flying solo both at work and at home. Which meant it was time to do things differently, imperfectly, and in a way that felt good to me.

And since content was my main touch point with my potential customers I knew I had to keep it up with the same level of visibility (if not better) but in a way that was sustainable and energised me, rather than left me an irritable, exhausted, frustrated person who looked at people with day jobs they could switch off at the end of the day with totally envy.

One thing I know with me. The more fried I am, the less creative I am. And the less creative I am, the less happy.

And so I returned to my creative roots as a writer, journalist and storyteller, and started to approach all my content from a place of creativity and flow, rather than perfectionism and box-ticking.

And guess what? I not only carried on getting the same results – but better results. Not to mention more engagement and opportunities…

Before. I had been approaching my content from a place of MUST-DO and NEED-TO, which left everyone involved (including me) feeling totally luke warm.

And I talked about inspired download in episode 8, and here for me is the result when I made that change. when I started to only communicate with my audience from a place of having something I genuinely was inspired to share that day… a place of openness, and wholeheartedness and what felt good rather than what I was meant to do…

Here’s what happened:

– High investing ideal clients I’d had no idea were even watching started approaching ME

– I got clear on who I really loved working with and  talking to (and started getting their attention)

– New ideas and inspiration came thick and fast not only for my content but for my business, which led me to create my signature method

– Amazing Collaboration opportunities opened up for me which got me hundreds of new eyeballs on my brand

– That business I’d been trying to push up a mountain, began to blow up instead.

And it was a real up-level moment for me.

And I realised that this approach didn’t just work for newbies like I was then, but could help established coaches and experts struggling to be heard in the noisy online space too, which is where the whole concept of content with a heartbeat, and using it to position yourself as a leader in your niche really came from.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do the work. It doesn’t mean that you will never have to create a funnel or an email sequence or batch content ever again, or that strategy is something you can totally ignore. Although it does mean that when you do need to do that you have a pool of really powerful original content as a starting point.

When you fill yourself up, open yourself up to be inspired and create your communications from that place…

👉 You’re not hustling, you’re creating.

👉 You’re not busy, you’re active.

👉 You’re not dragging your ideal clients into your world, you’re magnetising them to you.

And most importantly, you’re not modelling your business or marketing strategy on what everyone else is doing. You’re co-creating a business that’s unique to you that works with your natural rhythms and cycles and inspiration..

And that is nectar – to you and your soulmate clients.

So again we talked about inspired download in a previous episode, but that’s more about when inspiration strikes. This is about creating space in your life for a steady flow of inspiration.

And all the best content creators, authors have a ritual. Have a method. Whether it’s Stephen King’s 6 pages a day, or Murakami’s 10km swim. 

And I developed my own ritual that I knew would put in a good place for receiving. That would open me up, reset me for the day, and no matter what had happened before -whether it was a bad night’s sleep, or a shouting match at the front door with my 6 year old over whether she should wear socks to school, or always had the tools I needed to get into a place of creation so I can show up in my content and in my business.

So here’s what it looks like.

I get all the stuff done that needs to be done.

And then when the house is quiet this is my routine

I move – yoga or HIIT

[I pull a card or I listen to someone who fills me up like abraham hicks rampage

I meditate – sometimes 10 minutes or with a guided meditation if i have time

I journal and i then create content for the day.

Sometimes having a prayer like the one in a course in miracles

Where would you have me go, what would you have me do, what would you have me say and to whom is a good prompt.

Now it doesn’t always happen like this. Some mornings it just doesn’t

But i don’t book any calls or start work before 1030 so I can do this process.

Because I know I am showing up as my best, I am more focused on my day, and I have set the reset button on anything that has gone before.