Those days when you want to throw your laptop at the wall

Those days when you want to throw your laptop at the wall

by | Oct 23, 2021 | Ads on FB + IG, Facebook™, Marketing, Mindset, Productivity, Sustainable Business, Time saving

Do you have those days when you are working on the tech stuff in your business and you get to the point where you’re so frustrated that you want to throw your laptop? 

I certainly do. 

And because I spend so many hours of my working time laptop dealing with tech I have had to develop some tools to help me in those moments. 

These are kind of like my rules of play or my rules of engagement for working with tech and how to deal with those moments of complete frustration. Those moments of just hitting the brick wall, being in some horrible vortex loop and hating it.

This can happen any time when using technology. 

You know the scenario:

You are trying to do a “simple” thing and it either hits the brick wall.

You want to save something and it just won’t save.

You want to edit something and it just won’t work

or something like that. 

Or you end up in a vortex – you want to do one simple thing and suddenly you’re being asked to sign up for another thing and then you have to pay for something else and then you need another tool to link those two up to each other and you don’t even really know what they do. Your head is spinning and the rage is rising.

So here are 3 things I adhere to when it comes to tech frustration:

  1. Watch the narrative
  2. Space clearing mist
  3. Set a timer

1. WATCH THE NARRATIVE

It’s so important to be aware of the stories you are telling yourself as you work on the tech stuff in your biz. 

If you are trying something new like setting up a website, running ads to Facebook or creating images in Canva and it isn’t working. What are you making this mean? What is your inner dialogue? Are you thinking thoughts like: “I am not techie”, “this is hard”, “Facebook sux” “this is not my zone of genius” {insert yours here}. 

It happens to me when I’m learning something new. I get to the wall or the vortex and I don’t like it. 

I am pretty tenacious and sometimes I think I can just push through and “make it happen”. 

And sometimes I do. 

And sometimes I get really frustrated and get totally disheartened. I get rejective and start wanting to tell a story about the whole thing being a really bad idea.

Once a story is running it’s important to consider how that narrative informs and dictates other realities in your life.

For example, if you try to run ads on Facebook and they get rejected, do you then say that “you just don’t understand” and “Facebook is crap”.

What do you say?

The same thing can happen to 100 people and there are probably 1000 stories you could be telling about that same experience.

One person might make it mean that they are learning something new and that is sometimes uncomfortable where another person might make it mean they suck and tech and can’t move forward in their business.

What you make it mean is the ONLY thing that is within your control.

If you can’t understand what I’m saying here or you find it hard to be aware of your thoughts I recommend meditation and a good life coach.

Those 2 things have helped me find the spaces between my thoughts and my awareness.

This is a powerful development that will help you in all areas of your life, as well as how you feel about tech.

I personally love Vipassna meditation and try to go for a 10 day retreat every year as well as meditating daily as my home practice.

Do you have a meditation practice?

It’s a business tool and a life tool you won’t regret acquiring.

2. SPACE CLEARING MIST

I have 2 space clearing mists I love. I have the Australian Bush Flower Essence Space Clearing mist and the Anima Mundi Palo Santo Protection Myst.

Sometimes, if I am having tech gremlins or even just working with a client and we are getting a bit tense with our progress over a tech fart, I will spritz the heck out of my space with one of those 2 and just take a moment.

Traditionally, Palo Santo is for warding off evil spirits.

But what are “evil spirits” if not our own mental tensions, negative thought patterns and bad mental hygiene?

Sure, maybe your neighbour did put a hex on you.

Or maybe you just need to breathe and become aware of the  magic inside you.

Either way, I find that somehow, space clearing mists help. Even if they only smell good and there’s a placebo effect.
By the time I’m that pissed off I don’t really care what is helping if at all. Bring the nice smells and hex removal.

3. SET A TIMER

The other day I was working with a group of clients on Facebook ads. As well as creating and publishing ads for clients myself, I was mentoring a small group of women to set up their own ads accounts. 

I had a client with a pressing deadline and a decent budget and 5 ads rejected due to misleading claims with another client whose account was disabled due to circumventing Facebook ads policy. 

Then I had one of the students who I was mentoring have her catalogue rejected and another one whose Squarespace site stopped connecting to her Instagram as soon as she followed my instructions to set Instagram up in Business Manager. 

So as well as my own ads failing, and possibly failing my clients I was also failing to support students. 

I could have made this mean that I’m no good at ads and that I am not fit to teach others ads either. And then I could decide that Facebook ads are crap. And I might even decide that I’m not cut out for online business. 

What I did was contact support, and they told me there was a glitch which was making ads rejected when they shouldn’t have been. 

This gave me a red flag that Facebook’s servers might be having other glitches too and that it just wasn’t the day for working on Facebook ads. 

This is so often the case. 

As well as the old “turn it off and turn it back on” trick, I find this third approach a sanity saver. 

How long are you going to swirl in a vortex or headbutting a brick wall before you walk away? 

Some days, it’s better to just walk away. But how long should you try? 

I usually allow about 30-minutes maximum to headbut/swirl and then I walk away. Because most times I have those moments, I find out a week later that “Oh yeah there was a {XYZ} issue that day and everyone was {effected in some way}”.

So just choose a timer, do as much as you can and then walk away. Come back a day or 2 later. 

I actually just checked all of those disapproved ads now (24 hours later) and they are all approved! 

Oh Facebook…

If you found this helpful and you like, you can make a small donation.

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

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“Why” to create content

“Why” to create content

by | Jul 28, 2021 | Content, Email Marketing, Facebook™, Instagram™, Marketing, Mindset, Social Media, Strategy, Website

Yesterday in the “Sharing your Brilliance: loving content” course and the “Grow an aligned Audience group program we talked about Content creation and the “Why” that sits behined it.

Creating content can be hard if:

you aren’t clear on your why

or

your motivators are extrinsic

First up – before you read this, I would encourage you to set a 5 minute timer and do some journalling about your own why.

If you are coming up question marks you might be interested in these 4 “Why”s…

And here’s a video to tease it all out. :

Here are 4 “Why”s you might like to experiment with:

1. Curiosity

2. Generosity/service

3. Develop a body of work

4. Share your energy signature with those you need to journey with

I acknowledge the Djiringanj people of the Yuin Nation, the custodians of this beautiful land on which I live and work.

I also pays respect to all Elders past & present.

Thank you for taking such good care of the wild, beautiful places of Araganu, the coastline and forests where I get nurtured.

1. Curiosity

Some ways that I stay curious are to ask questions. Like: 

I wonder how I can share this in a 60 second video?

I wonder how my audience feels about this topic? 

Do people agree with this or not? 

Am I the only one who thinks this? 

How could you be curious in creating content?

2. Generosity/be of service

If you are like me them you just love to be helpful, and you have a value to be of service to others. 

It’s tempting to work for nothing, or to under-charge. 

Creating content is another way to be generous and be of service. Let your loving heart shine and share those goodies inside you!

3. Develop a body of work 

I really never thought it would be me, but it is actually possible to start now and develop a body of work. Your contribution to humanity. 

Creating content happens one post and one blog at a time. And so your body of work can grow, post by post, video by video. 

This is YOUR light and y our perspective. Let it rip. 

4. Share your energy signature with those you need to journey with

You are emanating a unique energy. Your vibration is a conduit to the transformation of others and vice versa. 

But how can those people find you if you are hiding out, or too busy or too whatever to share your goodness??

And you know, it’s not just for their benefit; you have so much to learn through journeying with your clients. 

Goodness knows how much I have learned about boundaries by working with some challenging clients over time!

So, what’s your why?

Got thoughts and questions about this? Hit me up in the comments. I can’t wait to see your work in the world. 

If you found this helpful and you like, you can make a small donation.

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Feeling yuck about running ads?

Feeling yuck about running ads?

by | Jun 16, 2021 | Ads on FB + IG, Facebook™, Instagram™, Marketing, Mindset

When you think about running ads, do you feel concerned that you’re going to be intrusive? Do you have an issue with the way that running ads might fit with your values?

For a long time I felt like:

  • Ads are gross
  • Paying for ads is yuck
  • and I didn’t want to do it

But over the last 5 years in business, I see that Facebook is not doing business people any favours: they are not sharing your content with people who like your page.

Organic (unpaid) reach is hard work and not achievable for most people given our time commitments. And Instagram is the same story now since Facebook bought it, and brought in the algorithm.

For some people, it is just as hard on Instagram as it is on Facebook to connect with their audience. 

Truth is Facebook and Instagram are not putting our content and posts in front of the people who actually like our page and sometimes not even with people who engage with us.

What I’ve found from using ads, is that I can easily see how  many people are seeing my posts. I can also see how many people are engaging with them or clicking through to my website. 

I no longer feel annoyed that I’m not getting better reach nor am I angry with Facebook and Instagram for not helping me. I am helping myself. 

Plus, it’s not expensive. Ads can be as low as $1.33AUD a day (current lowest price 16.6.2021).

THE REALITY IS:

Your audience are going to see ads

They will see ads from big budget marketers

They will see ads from mattress companies

They will see ads from weird underpants makers

And they probably don’t want to see those ads

But they DO want to see your content.

They liked your page. They followed you and engaged with your content.

If they see YOU and your ads in their feed instead of all that unwanted advertising – they are actually going to be happy rather than inconvenienced.

They ARE seeking your help, and it’s actually quite ok for you to share your content and offers via ads.

AND if you are going to spend time making content, it’s worth spending a couple of dollars to make sure people actually see it – isn’t it? 

Otherwise, what’s the point of creating content? What tick box are you filling? 

Written content and how long should my blog be?

Written content and how long should my blog be?

by | Jun 9, 2021 | Content, Facebook™, Instagram™, Marketing, Mindset, Social Media, Strategy, Time saving, Website

When you think about creating written content, are you like me? Do you feel like writing is a major challenge? Or are you a natural writer?

If you aren’t clear on “what is content”, you can read my other blog about that here.

Today I want to help set you free in regards to sharing your brilliance through written content.

Many clients ask me “how long should my blog be?” and I get the feeling that they don’t really like my answer.

I get the feeling that people need a container or they want to be told or they are just awesome and they want to do the best thing. They want to be wise and take advice from someone who really knows what they’re talking about to make the most of their time and energy and get it right. 

The thing is: this is your creative expression. 

Sharing content is part of your expansive, human, creative expression and what I would really like to offer you is to experience freedom of creative expression in your written content and marketing. 

I would also like to offer you a couple of concrete ideas and suggestions, practical ideas that I have used to help me with my writing. 

I have not spent much time practicing writing. 

When I was younger I was really great at maths so I didn’t really Focus much on my writing because I found it challenging whereas maths was naturally easy. I’m a bit lazy sometimes so I would just naturally gravitate to what was easy and shy away from what was hard. 

Now that I’m a big grown-up girl, I am up for the challenge of writing and I’m almost enjoying the practice haha.  

A few things have been very helpful for me in creating written content. 

Don’t get me wrong, I can write. 

I did a commerce degree and I wrote long essays and reports in the academic style of writing. Learning how to write for my own marketing and business has taken me a long time. It hasn’t felt natural. It hasn’t felt easy. I have actually shied away from writing & found that I can create video fairly easily. So my content has rested heavily on video until last year or so. 

Even now when I sit down to write and I look at a blank piece of paper I semi seize-up and freak out. 

So: how to write content and how long should your blog be.

Let’s do it the other way.

First of all let’s look at some super famous, semi famous and not so famous (although they should be) bloggers. Sometimes looking at other people’s writing can be inspiring and sometimes it can be intimidating. So in this process let’s try not to get bogged down in comparison or worry about your own style. 

What I’m hoping to share here is really just freedom. I’m hoping that you will see that the written word in marketing land has a great deal of variation, personal freedom of expression and options.

Example blogs 

https://seths.blog/ 

Seth’s Blog

this is Seth Godin blog. He is pretty super famous. What I love about his blog is he right every single day. personally I think back to major accomplishment because I don’t find writing everyday easy. The other thing I love about this blog is the variation in length. In my mind this blog is a beautiful example of how free you can be with your writing. You don’t need to fit into any container around how many words you write for your blog. I hope this blog sets you free in terms of length.

https://corbettbarr.com/whats-wrong-with-social-media/ 

Corbett Barr’s blog

 What I love about Corbett’s website is the intentional minimalism. it is such a strong contrast to most of current marketing and online media. I have a whole video about his web site which you can view here. I would say that corbett’s blog is an example of a more classic blog style with longer blogs. He has no focus on SEO or images to make it sparkly and spiffy. He is just keeping the focus on what he has written and he obviously likes writing. I hope that this example shows you that you can just focus on your message and don’t worry about lots of bells and whistles if all those things don’t come naturally to you. if you love to write you can just write.

https://leoniedawson.com/blog/ 

Leonie Dawson’s blog

 Leonie Dawson is a creative Powerhouse. She does very nicely in her business and doesn’t really care about fitting into any boxes. I find that so inspiring. Leonies blogs very greatly in length and instructure. She doesn’t try to apply any rules to her blogs and she really just creates whatever she wants and publishes it as often as she wants. Unlike set she doesn’t blog every day and unlike Corbett she doesn’t keep it simple and basic. She sprinkles it up with fun images personal anecdotes and other engaging content.  I hope this blog sets you free in terms of how personal you can be in your blog and writing. 

https://melaniejwhite.com/podcast/ 

Melanie White’s blog

 This blog is by the brilliance white. My team and I help Melanie to deliver her blog. She creates a podcast and then we transcribe it, lightly edited and turn it into a blog post. this method can also be applied to video content and is perfect for people like me or other people who just aren’t really in love with writing.  I love to use rev for transcription and some people love to use otter for transcription. There are loads of options for transcribing. I actually wrote this blog using a Google doc and the tool called voice typing. There are so many options for getting written content created and they don’t necessarily involve typing on a keyboard or writing on paper. I hope this blog shows you how you can use audio or video content to create writing and skip writing all together. 

Practical tips

Whenever I sit down to write, I look at the blank page and I seize up.
But I have been managing to write blogs, and social media captions and emails and sales pages. Now, I’m going to share my most recent writing success tips. I hope they are helpful. 

Just write anything.

I get over perfectionism and worry by just getting started. I don’t have high expectations of anything awesome coming out. I just write anything, without judgement and expectation. I have been doing some free-association writing, like journaling, in my personal life and I think this is helping. 

Talking it out.

I sit there and talk it out. Even for parts of this blog, I spoke it out and typed what I was saying. This helps me to write in a way that sounds most naturally like me. Plus, if it doesn’t make sense to say it, just writing it down won’t help. The message needs to be clear enough to be understood as someone reads it and I find that just talking it out helps a lot. 

Use a transcribing tool. 

Sometimes I need to just pop an idea out and I can’t wait to get to a keyboard so I create a voice memo in my phone, then send it off to a transcription service. Some people lately have been recommending Otter and in the past I’ve used Rev. I also like to use Tools>Voice typing in a Google doc. However you need to do it is fine! I heard that Brene Brown writes her books by setting aside a weekend and getting some girlfriends over to tease out the ideas. 

Set a timer.

I like to allocate a 15 minute slot when I’m writing sales pages. I use George Kao’s copywriting tips in this video and write for 15 minutes per section. Having a time constraint and a specific prompt has been helping me a lot. 

What do you do to get writing? 

I hope this has been helpful. I look forward to reading some of your brilliance soon. 

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

Do you just want to talk to me about your business and website?

I’d love to chat. You can book a free chat and we can discuss website set up and all of the other things I mentioned here. We can even set it all up of ryou and save you the headace. 

Go ahead and book a free chat here: 

BOOK HERE

What is content? And how to make more

What is content? And how to make more

by | Jun 2, 2021 | Content, Facebook™, Instagram™, Marketing, Mindset, Productivity, Social Media, Strategy, Time saving, Video, Video & YouTube, Website

I often hear people say that they are “Content Strategists” or the explain how to “Create Content”.

And although I know what content is, it seems to me to be a weird and jargon-ey term that causes so much confusion.

I was thinking that we could just rename it to: “Sharing your brilliance”

Because that is all we really need to do. We all know so much and have so much brilliance to share. But to clarify: what is content? And how can you make more?

Content comes in so many different forms. 

It can be: 

Image based

Written

Video

Audio

I am sure there are more categories too that I’ve glazed over.

And then there’s the length. I’m calling them micro (or snippet), small and long.

Examples: 

A reel on Instagram = I would say that is a micro-video. 

An Instagram image post with a caption = is a written and image small piece of content. 

A Facebook text only post around 2000 words = a long, written piece of content. 

That same Facebook post on your blog with images as well = is a long, image and written piece of content. 

A podcast of the same article would be = a long, audio piece of content. 

Using Headliner to turn that podcast into a video makes a snippet of video content. 

Transcribing that podcast into a written blog with images = is a long, written and image piece of content

But more important than the classifications and definitions is the purpose.

For a long time I found it really hard to create content and I did not enjoy creating content.

I spent a long time creating content with the idea in mind that I had to do it to reach clients and that content would help me sell my services. The only content I was able to make easily were “how-to” videos. I think these felt easy because they were of service to my clients with low expectations of reward. They were more of a selfless service. 

In the yoga tradition I studied for many years, selfless service is called karma yoga. In karma yoga you work for others and try to release your expectations of reward. 

Recently, I have been loving creating content. Short videos, long videos, short written posts, longer writing. All kinds. And I think what has changed is my frame for why I create content. 

Now, I create content as a practice for myself. As more of an enquiry and creative expression. The things I think about it are more like: 

“How can I say this in 60 seconds?”

“I wonder if anyone agrees with this?”

“How clearly and simply can I explain this in writing?”

“Can I explain those instructions in writing?”

“I wonder what my peeps think about this idea?”

And now I never really think: 

“I need to create this so I can sell my offer/service”

If I want to offer my service I just do it. I create a separate post, or separate piece of writing that speaks directly to the offer. 

Sometimes, while I’m developing offers, I do some research and get excited about that topic so I’ll naturally share about it, but since I separated my selling and my content, my content feels a lot cleaner and a lot free-er. I feel that I can experiment more and genuinely share with people who I care about. 

This is my story around creating more content. 

I wonder – what do you think about when you try to create content? Could those thoughts be hindering your ability to create content like mine were? 

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

Do you just want to talk to me about your business and website?

I’d love to chat. You can book a free chat and we can discuss website set up and all of the other things I mentioned here. We can even set it all up of ryou and save you the headace. 

Go ahead and book a free chat here: 

BOOK HERE

How to figure out what you should blog and write about

How to figure out what you should blog and write about

by | May 24, 2021 | Content, Email Marketing, Facebook™, Instagram™, Marketing, Mindset, Productivity, Social Media, Strategy, Time saving, Video, Video & YouTube, Website

Great!

You’ve decided that it’s time. You are ready to start writing and sharing your brilliance with your audience and the world. Your next thought now might be: What you should write about?”.

In this blog I will share some ways to generate ideas for your writing so you can have a big list of inspiring topics to dip into whenever you sit down to write.

This information also applies to “what should you make videos about” if you are into making videos.

A couple of important things to consider are:

What topic/s do you want to write about?

and

What do your ideal clients seek information about?

1. Talk to your people

Current Clients

If you are doing sessions with your ideal clients, you are getting great ideas on tap. Every session can provide you with ideas for writing.
What was the client’s challenge?
What did you do to help them?

I’m sure you’ve had days like me where you seem to say the same thing to about 5 people in the one week. THIS is great information to share as a written blog or video.

Friends + Market research

Current clients are a reliable source of ideas but you may not have many or any of those yet!
Other people that are YOUR people are your trusted friends. You could also have market research conversations with people who would be perfect clients with no pressure for them to buy from you.

The sole purpose of those conversations is to find out what they type in the Google search bar when they look for solutions or what questions and challenges they have around your topic of expertise.
You can do this more informally by being a great listener at parties and gatherings.
People are a great source of ideas.

A side note about your own ideas

You may not have a problem thinking up great ideas on your own.
Yay! 

Why are you reading this article?? LOL 🙂

Your own ideas are great, however I would make one loving caution about your own ideas. 

You may find that when you write from your own well of ideas that your writing doesn’t do as well as you had thought. As in: it doesn’t seem to get a response from your audience. 

If this is happening, I would suggest that you may be writing at a level too far ahead of your current client’s level of growth or understanding. 

Sometimes I write articles that I think are gold and no-one gives any hoot about them. And other times, I create something that I think is throwaway and that everyone already knows and people go mad over it. 

So, if you are experiencing this, I encourage you to have some conversations with friends who are like your ideal clients. Have those client or market research conversations to make sure you are speaking the right language for where your people are right now. 

2. Use the Google search 

Bring to mind a topic you want to write about. I used this method for MailChimp. 

(i) Type the idea into the Google search bar and don’t click search. 

Have a look at the drop down. 

Do you see a bunch of suggested search ideas?

These are ideas for blog articles or videos. 

(ii) Further down the page it might say “People also ask” with a bunch of questions and drop downs. The headings of these drop downs are also great titles for your blog. 

These two options give you ideas that the Google robot has noticed people asking a lot. So even if you don’t have conversations with people because you are clear on your topic, this method can help tease out a lot of ideas that a lot of people have definitely searched for in Google.

Creating articles that help you be found via Google search is a method of blogging that uses Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Google is a search engine, and you can focus on optimising your website and blogs to show up better in Google search.

If you are interested in how to grow your business with a blog, I have a course about that. I delivered it with the brilliant Melanie White. I also have an SEO course with the ONLY person I recommend for SEO, Karen Phillips. This one is called “How to get the right website visitors”. Both of those courses can help you with your SEO if this is important to you and your business. 

3. Use the YouTube search 

Similar to the Google method above, you can type your topic or vague idea into YouTube and see what other content exists on the topic. Simply type your idea into the YouTube search bar and look at the ideas that drop down. 

Once you have mined those ideas, click “Search” and have a look at the kind of content other people are creating and the other titles being used. You can write an article with the exact same title if you like!

Now listen though: DON’T GET INTIMIDATED IN THIS STEP

Even though other people may have already created content that you want to create, no-one is quite like you. You have a particular configuration and lens to see life through that is of unique value to the world.

So PLEASE still go ahead and write that blog!

4. Use Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is a free tool you can add to your Chrome browser. It enables you to see more when  you do a Google search, when you do a YouTube search and when you view YouTube videos. It actually does way more than I use it for. I am not a major ninja at it but this method of using it simply will definitely help you find writing ideas. 

So, once you have installed Keywords Everywhere to your Chrome browser and you look at your results using the above Google and YouTube methods, you will see a bunch more info on the side:

These are just more things to, hopefully, spark inspiration for you. The beauty of these methods is, Google is such a large database. Millions (or billions) of people are using this every day. And it’s free for you to mine for ideas. Yay! 

Have these ideas been helpful for you? Let me know how you go and tag me in your social media post if you used this method 🙂

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

Do you just want to talk to me about your business and website?

I’d love to chat. You can book a free chat and we can discuss website set up and all of the other things I mentioned here. We can even set it all up of ryou and save you the headace. 

Go ahead and book a free chat here: 

BOOK HERE