It took 15 minutes...
What could possibly take 15 minutes?
I’m going to guess some of you get it before you scroll down to the long read. Probably because it’s happened to you as well.
But before we get to that, I have a new freebie for you. I’ve put together a content strategy calculator. It helps you figure out what content is and is not working for your business so you can start the next stage of your content strategy. Helpful as we’re coming up to the final part of the year.
If you want to get one, hit reply and I’ll send it over.
For now, give me much less than 15 minutes of your time (six, in fact) for this week’s long read.
It took 15 minutes…
It took 15 minutes. Yep, that was the total time between testing out an idea, thinking: “I’ll just pop this on TikTok,” and getting mansplained. A whole 15 minutes. I’ve waited longer for my kids to put their shoes on their feet.
I took a deep breath, did an eye roll and returned with a caustic reply.
Some guy’s hilarious comment was nothing to me. I really don’t care if someone thinks I look like a dick on video or that I’m giving advice they disagree with but I’ve not always been like that. And I’m very much aware that for some people, this is exactly why they don’t put themselves out there.
So how do you take risks when there is a real chance it might batter your confidence in the long run?
Okay, so it’s easy to say that the more you do things, the easier it will get. And it’s true. If you start doing videos then the first one will make you cringe. Record your first podcast and you’ll hate the sound of your voice. But do it another five or six times and you’ll stop noticing. You might even start enjoying it.
Firstly, when you start doing something new it’s scary because it’s new. You might not know how the tech works. You’ll make a bunch of mistakes. And you’re probably thinking about all of this as you’re trying to record that video, write that blog or whatever it is you’re doing.
If you’ve ever done couch to 5k you’ll know that the first 1 minute run you have to do feels like it’s much longer and that you’re going to spew up your lungs. You can’t imagine ever getting to the 5k point or beyond. Those people who make running look easy? Pft. Psychopaths.
But the more you run, the more your body learns. It increases strength, stamina and lung capacity. Eventually, you’ll forget that running for one minute ever hurt.
It’s the same with doing a new type of content, especially one that puts you front and centre.
The more you do it, the more comfortable you become with the tech so that’s one less thing to worry about. Then you’ll get into the flow of the structure and what you want to do or say. You’ll become more comfortable on camera and listening back to your own voice. It just gets easier because you can do it. You’ve learned as you’ve gone along.
Secondly, the more you do something the more it becomes a habit. So you make new pathways in your brain. Right now, when you’ve not done anything before, your brain is telling you “no, thanks, I’m a-okay as I am”. As you do it a few more times, your brain learns that this is now a thing that you do and it creates a new pathway so you don’t feel so much fear.
And that’s a good thing because the more you feel confident and the less fear you have, the more you’ll have the emotional barriers to ignore any silly comments.
Who are you to judge?
A friend of mine launched their business right before lockdown. They were a private teacher and starting out so not being able to teach face-to-face was slightly problematic. Instead, they did little free video lessons as their promo and put these out on every channel they had.
Brilliant idea and they were great.
I found out that another friend was making fun of these videos. I was so cross about it. This other person didn’t have a business, they didn’t have to do anything other than rock up at work each week to get paid. They had no idea how hard it is to build your own business and bring in clients. Who were they to judge making videos?
I sincerely hope my friend never found out about this because it could have destroyed their confidence. And the videos? Brought in lots of online clients during lockdown. It helped the business find its feet.
It can be really hard to stop and think “who is this person to judge my video/ podcast/ blog/ post?” when you’re putting yourself out there.
This happens because we’re more likely to believe the negative. To think the worst. So if someone says what we’re doing is ridiculous - even if they are not even slightly qualified to make any remark - we’re probably going to take it to heart. It confirms every belief we had before we embarked on our creative content journey.
This is why you need to be in a strong place and have confidence in what you do.
Alright Fiona, that’s easy to say but less easy to do.
Quite right, which is why whenever I do something like put a first video on TikTok I make a list of why I am qualified to say the things I’m going to say. I pull out client testimonials, write down all my experiences, the wins, and the good things that have happened. I make a list and I have it ready to check through to make sure that, yep, I am definitely right and this commenter is a total numpty looking for a reaction.
So what about when that fear is holding you back in the first place?
Let’s say you really fancy doing a podcast. You know that this will fit nicely into your content strategy. But you think you’re going to sound like an idiot and all the school bullies from 20 years ago will magically stumble across it and laugh.
Start with something small.
Put yourself forward to be a podcast guest. Then you get to answer questions and it’s not really your podcast, you’re just chatting to someone else. You don’t even need to listen to it when it’s out. You could just let people know it’s there.
Do a couple of these and it’ll seem much easier to do your own.
My first online workshop brought me out in sweats. I was so nervous and dreading it. I went bright red for the first five minutes, stumbled over my words and did the whole 45-minute presentation in 20 minutes.
But doing that was a learning experience and when I got some lovely comments from attendees, I did another one. And another and then did some for other people. Appearing on-screen became less of an issue.
Before I did my first face-to-camera Reel, I tested it out on another platform with a new login. No one would see it and I could work up the courage for doing more. The more I did, the easier it got. Then I put a few on my Instagram (I don’t usually use this for marketing), and got more used to the camera.
Barricading yourself to the silly people
Whenever you put yourself out there, you are opening yourself up to someone being a dick. While we’d love these people to scroll on by, they can’t seem to understand that your content is not for them.
You can ignore them, they will go away. Or treat them with humour. It’s up to you. But the best thing you can do is build a barricade for yourself against this. It starts by building your confidence and self-esteem. By putting people around you who boost you up and will be on hand to rationalise stupid comments. It’s about knowing whose opinion you care about, a stranger online or your friends and family.
Now, as you’ll know from my earlier story, friends are not immune from being dicks either and these can be the biggest killers of creativity. It’s harder to say that this person isn’t qualified to make that comment when they do know you. I hope that true friends don’t do this. But there is always one.
The best thing to do is block them from all of your socials and then they never get to see what you’re putting out. Problem - mostly - solved. And, remember, their issue is with themselves rather than you.
It takes 15 minutes
It takes 15 minutes (probably a lot less) to publish the content you’ve been thinking about doing. Give it a try and see what happens.
It takes less than a second to scroll on by someone being a dick. And 3ish minutes to make yourself a brew and remember how great you are and why you’re doing this.
How I can help:
Get your content mess sorted out with a Content Clear Out
Untangle your SEO with an SEO Audit
Solve your content conundrums with a Content Clinic
P.s. I’m challenging myself to 100 days of Reels. Join in if you fancy it but I’ll otherwise be reporting back on the data in a few months.
See you next Thursday!
Fiona