In my earplugs while I write this issue:
I’ll never compete with other creators’ numbers, but I’ll definitely compete with my current ones. My brain is at its best when I set crazy goals, as I am the sole competitor in a fierce gymkhana where I want to reach number 1, 2, AND 3 on the podium! Giving my brain what it wants while keeping myself from burning out, demands from me more realistic deadlines and goals.
When you are a creator, your content is your portfolio.
My previous Ayurveda brand was mostly on Instagram, under a business model based on selling digital products; it demanded scale, a high volume of free content, and speed. Today I find it unsustainable - especially if there isn’t a long-format-evergreen content strategy.
I’ve started Tati’s Tactics in a long-format platform, Substack, that allows me to build my evergreen portfolio and connect with my audience on a deeper level - as a plus, access their direct contact information. Here I “own” my audience, unlike what happens in social media. Long-format content with depth is at the opposite end of my previous business model.
When you put your words, videos, drawings, and songs out there, you create several digital business cards rolling around the internet. Your content is a fraction of who you are, it is a window to your brain. Using content to achieve business goals is the way to go more than never.
Content as the product
Free content served me as samples to sell my 1:1 consulting and online courses; it is easier to make somebody buy from you if they get to experience, from a considerable quantity of free posts, what you know and offer. With Tati’s Tactics I want to try something risky: mixing different business models at one. Selling content through paid subscriptions, my time on the 1:1 consulting, and digital products. It is safer to have multiple revenue streams, but it will take a lot of attention and wisdom to determine which pieces of content may go under a paywall and which ones must remain free as a sample for my other products. We’ll come to this topic soon.
I always observe my behavior as a consumer and use it in my business. Do you do the same? I buy from a brand when I trust it; either from a recommendation of a friend I trust blindly or from my own perception of it. When it comes to content, I tend to pay for online courses, eBooks, or any type of content when I am sure I’ll get a lot of value in return. How about you?
100 posts to Ho Ho Ho
100 texts until Christmas; that is my goal for this virtual space. A solid 100-post portfolio. 100 ideas of mine online that will allow me to sell whatever I want to. Quantity AND quality. Audacious! Besides, next year I want to concentrate on other aspects of the business, so I’ll be writing with less intensity. My focus for 2024 (what’s left of it) is Substack.
For any audacious goal to be met, the “sacrifice” demands a clear view of its winnings:
Improving my writing is one of my current professional goals; the more I write, the better I become at it.
This blog/ newsletter is my new business’ first product, and nothing excites me more than building products and the “smell” of fresh business.
This blog is the materialization of all the things inside my head, it is something I’ve been desiring for a long time. It makes me happy to see it grow text after text.
Dedicating the second semester of 2024 to writing will allow me to open room for new fronts of business next year when the number one goal will change.
To be sure I will make it, here’s a goal-setting and project-management framework you can use for any other goal:
Determining project closure and success: 100 texts, published on the platform until the last day of December.
Identifying present status: as of today, June 16th, when I write this issue, I have 11 published texts + this one you are reading, 12 texts.
Quantifying tasks of the project: 88 texts to be produced and published.
Quantifying deliveries: I can comfortably develop 3 texts per week.
Determining time for development: Considering I was on a short vacation this week and want to concentrate on creating my 1:1 consultancy in the last week of June, I’ll consider it from July on. There are 26 weeks between July and the end of December.
Checking if what I can deliver fits the time available:
3 texts per week times 26 weeks = 78 texts to be produced. 78 texts + 12 texts (I have already published) = 90. It’s close, but I still need to make arrangements to make 10 more fit.
If I squeeze in 2 extra texts still in June, the count increases to 92 texts; 8 missing to 100.
My agenda for July is still pretty empty and the 26th marks the beginning of the Olympics in Paris; it will be a time when I’ll be more indoors and have more time to write. So I’ll add one extra text per week in July and August. From September on, I go back to 3 texts per week.
If I can’t meet my goal in a week, I’ll use the same logic above to recalculate.
And of course, things can go out of the illusory control I feel I have over my life and I won’t be able to meet my goal at all, which is fine too.
Most important than having goals is knowing everything can change suddenly and we must move along.
These random numbers of texts become then tasks inside a project. To keep track of things, they must enter your agenda:
From time to time it is important to recheck project goals, completed tasks, and time until completion; this avoids bad surprises close to deadlines.
Important to keep in mind:
This organization doesn’t consider vacations and sick days but as I wrote above, 3 texts are a comfortable target/ week. If I have a slow production week, I can compensate for it in the next ones.
This project will probably be successful because:
I already have 56 text ideas waiting to be produced and new ideas keep coming regularly. After all, I’ve been a professional content creator for 6 years!
This is my biggest project, it has my full attention.
See, when I say that now I set more realistic goals, I have myself as a basis of comparison. For some people my goals may seem too high, and for others way too low.
A competition with yourself is the only fair one.
Related posts:
See you next Saturday.
Bisous,
Tati
Fantastic!!! It inspires me to set feasible goals for the next months, instead of letting things run alone.. Thanks!