Two words encapsulate how it is going launching and maintaining two independent companies:
Just fine.
Dealing with all the hurdles and hoops a small business has to go through just to get started is enough to make anyone abandon all their hopes and dreams. But, things are going well. Earlier today a new My Sweet, Dumb Brain newsletter hit my feeds and it summed up my focus for the foreseeable future. I’m not going to work myself to burnout. Instead, I’m focusing on forward progress, no matter how small it is. As long as I do something every day and it is towards my vision, then I’m happy.
This is allowing me to move slower, with more precision, and do better work, simply for the fact that I am actually enjoying it. I’m enjoying the process. I love to be learning. I am cherishing being a newbie and not having all the answers.
Not everything needs to be a task that is checked off as fast as possible. Having free time isn’t a problem. It is okay to have nothing to do.
It is hard to be thoughtful when you are always in a rush.
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When to speak
I spend most of my time copywriting. Blog, email, social media, ads, the majority of my time is writing words. Because I write so much, I also spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the words I’m going to say. They need to be focused and succinct, but also important, intriguing, and thoughtful. Therefore not every word I write gets published.
However, there is a misconception that content is king. Meaning any content is king, even if you don’t have anything productive to say. This is obvious on any holiday, whether it is trivial like National Ice Cream Day or for greatly important days for action like Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
You don’t have to publish something every day. Hell, you don’t have to publish anything unless you actually have something meaningful to say. It is okay to not publish a half-baked blog. It is okay to not publish on Instagram every other day. It is okay to not publish a newsletter if you don’t have any content. Don’t waste your and my time just because you feel like you have to publish something.
It is much better to publish quality, thoughtful, productive content for your business than it is to share noise just to check a box. Content calendars are dumb and you don’t need a “cadence”. This is why I miss my bi-weekly newsletter publish date or miss a week on social media. I simply to not have anything to say that I think is valuable.
Publish when it is ready. Publish when the content is valuable. And when you are not speaking – Listen.
Twitter interlude
Hot links
- Poll: SEOs To Allocate More Resources To Content Over Other Areas – You can’t SEO without content, no matter how much keyword stuffing that “locals” company promises to do.
- Copywritingexamples.com – Definitely keep this one in your back pocket. I always look at others content when struggling with where to start with my own.
Focusing Value, Not Time Spent | Leadership – Coaching – Life
I’ve scaled back the number of new leadership and coaching videos I have been making, mostly because I’ve produced nearly 40 of them. So here is one from the vault.
Organizations love to amplify busyness. They want everyone to be busy. But you and I both know that busyness does not equal value. The cult of busyness leads to bad work, half-finished projects, and burnout. It is your job as a leader to identify what value your team brings and lift up the individuals who do the work that allows them to bring value, not the amount of time they spend at their desks.