Fuck me… I’m doing it right now.
I’m doing exactly what I tell people is exactly the problem with their content as I write this email.
I’ve been working on the backend of my business and making the best mini-course I’ve ever made for my membership so my newsletter took a back seat.
I didn’t get started writing this email until the morning of the day it’s supposed to go out.
I had such a fucking great story to tell… and as I was writing I could feel myself rushing through it.
There’s so much hurried energy. “gotta get this out, gotta get this out, go-go-go!”
I hate this energy.
I’m on a mission in life to never do anything that gives me unwanted emotions while I’m doing it.
So I scrapped the story. Because it deserves to be told well. (even though I spent ~1.5 hours writing it)
The problem with most people’s content is that it’s done in a way that doesn’t make them feel good.
You could write the best piece of content ever with a masterful hook, but if the energy you create with is off, you won’t get the results you desire.
Everything we do has an energetic signature and that is what determines what you get from that thing.
Do you NEED your launch to go well?
Does needing it to go well feel heavy to you?
Yes?
Then it won’t go well.
Are you thinking, “this fucking 6 second reel better get 2,000 views or I’m gonna lose my fucking mind.”
It won’t even break 1,000.
In this post…
I want to give you the most simple strategy that sent this Reel off.
In less than 24 hours, here’s where we’re at:
🔥 The Problem
I’ve been showing up more on Threads (Meta’s version of Twitter) since January 1st.
I want to lean into my writing and thought this was a great place to do it.
(I kind of abandoned Instagram since I took my vacation in December.)
On the 2nd I woke up to about 100 new followers and a bunch of newsletter subscribers.
“Wow, this is easy” I thought.
I did the math.
At this rate I’ll have 36,000+ followers by the end of the year.
People are saying this is a new platform. Like TikTok in 2019. You could go viral soooo easily and grow FAST.
I was hype.
(you’d think I’d know better. don’t shame me)
Later that day nothing was getting even 1 like.
2 days later I’m annoyed.
I don’t get this fucking platform.
That gets us to January 9th (yesterday).
(Instagram is all of a sudden scaring me. I’m afraid to go back. It feels heavy. I’m also sad because I feel like I abandoned my community over there. (I miss you all and I’m coming back!))
Frustrated with Threads, but also I recognizing I haven’t been showing up as much as much as I committed to. I was focused on that mini-course for the Growth Gang.
Still… I was frustrated nonetheless.
All of a sudden my strategy on Threads became… when I had a few seconds I would copy and paste a Thread idea I had in my Notion content tracker, then hoping it would pop off like the three on January 1st did.
Hoping isn’t accurate.
“I really badly wanting it to pop off” is more accurate.
Not. Good. Energy.
As I sat and ate lunch that afternoon, I was thinking about changing into my gym clothes.
When I was home and I told my mom I was going to change, she would tease, “Don’t change I like you the way you are!”
That’s when the idea for that reel popped in my head.
I got so excited.
I took my last bite of my meat cereal, put my bowl in the sink and started scripting the reel right there next to the sink.
Natalie was throwing a ball at me trying to be playful with Telly and I but I was LOCKED IN. I was loving this. I was in flow.
This was so fun.
2/3 the way through the script, I dropped my phone and tackled Natalie and we wrestled on the bed with Telly.
It was so fun.
10 minutes later I got back to the script and finish it in a matter of minutes.
Barely any edits.
It was so fun.
It hit me….
This is what I was missing with Threads.
I stopped having fun.
I NEEDED my Threads to pop off.
I NEEDED them to bring me followers and add to my email sub list.
For fuck sake Matthew!!!! 🤦♂️
🧃 The Juice
If I want my content → to get me more followers → to get me more email subscribers → to get me more clients → to get me more money → to get me more freedom → so I can play more sports → so I can experience more childlike joy…..
Why wait for all that to happen to experience childlike joy.
Can’t I just experience it now?
Scripting the voice over, being creative and thinking of how to shoot this reel, filming b-roll, editing it together and finding the song to overlay… it’s so fun for me. All of this feels like play. I feel childlike joy.
I had a list of things I was supposed to do yesterday after lunch.
One being to write this email.
I said fuck it.
(lots of fucks today and I got plenty more to give)
and I spent the rest of the afternoon making this reel and experiencing that childlike joy throughout the entire process.
That’s the mother fucking tea ladies and gentlemen.
🎯 The Solution
You don’t hate content. You hate the way you make content.
Luckily for me, I’ve written on IG (long before Reels were a thing), I’ve made videos on YouTube, I’ve had 2 podcast with over 200 episodes total, I’ve written a blog for my Bike Trip, I’ve even written a book.
I have a LOT of strategies and experiences to reflect which content strategy gives me access to the feelings I want to have RIGHT NOW.
So this gets to be your job.
You are going to be an entrepreneur for the next 4-5 decades?
It’s worth learning how to create content in a way that gives you access to whatever feelings you want your goals to give you (joy, love, excitement, groundedness, zest, creativity, etc.)
Have you made content that felt really fucking easy and fun?
What was it?
How were you creating it?
Where were you?
Were you with anyone?
Do. More. Of. That.
Note: You are after uncovering the process of content creation that was the most fun. NOT THE RESULTS!
Otherwise you are living conditionally (when this happens then I’ll feel this way) and if you live that way… you’ll always be waiting.
If you have never made content you love, then try something new.
(it doesn’t count if you’ve only made like 3 reels. You probably just aren’t any good at it yet and you need to give yourself more time to develop some skill).
If you’ve made 100 reels, maybe it’s still reels, but maybe you start doing them differently (like how I don’t really like making 6 second trending reels or talking to the camera anymore. I like these inner dialogue reels. This process is fun for me!)
Maybe it’s not Instagram. Maybe it is the podcast you’ve been thinking about for 3 years.
Maybe it’s a newsletter or blog.
Maybe it’s Threads and Twitter.
Maybe you shouldn’t be a coach at all and you get to be an artist.
🎁 In summary
- Are you not enjoying the process of creating content?
- Decipher if you’ve been doing it long enough to even know or if you need to gain some more skill first
- Is there a time when you did love creating content?
- How can you do more of that?
- It may be in gaining the skill that is fun (like watching youtube videos on how to make better youtube videos)
There is no one way to create effective content that grows your business.
You see it everywhere.
Different kinds of reels go viral.
People have million download podcasts, best selling books, 500,000 YouTube subscribers, 100,000 Twitter followers, people with zero social media and crush the ad space, and on and on.
Better yet… people like me who have 3200 followers and make a great living.
I’m not in the business of telling you which is the best content for you. I’m in the business of helping you speak your truth and stand out wherever you decide to create.
Have an amazing fucking day.
Matt
View comments
+ Leave a comment