How to Sell Advice

I've decided to stop writing daily.

And I thought I'd just unpack a
little bit about my thought process

on why I wrote daily in the first
place and why right now I'm.

It's not that I'm going to stop writing
daily because I think I'm going to

still publish and write frequently.

It's really that I don't want the
pressure to feel like I have to

write daily or even once a day.

Uh, and I'll get into all this
stuff, even though I think it's been

extraordinarily helpful for me so far.

So number one, the reason I got
into daily writing was one because I

wanted to make an effort into getting
into more mentoring and community

building around the marketing advisor.

Uh, space and helping other
marketing consultants.

And now freelancers build
and run a profitable.

Business and ultimately create
more leverage around their

expertise, not their hands.

And.

When I was doing that, I, I knew that the
only way I was going to figure out what

my big ideas were and to bring them to
the world was to write about them often.

So it really helped to clarify.

My thinking and it forces you
to daily writing and committing

publicly to creating content
daily really forces you to.

Clarify your thinking and put it.

Put it in clear terms, so that.

Uh, so that you can articulate your
idea as I'm struggling to do right now.

So it was a really beneficial exercise
to go through, at least for me.

And it allowed me to kind of get,
figure out what my big ideas were.

And now I'm going to kind of comb
back through them and go deeper.

On some of those ideas,
maybe create more content.

Uh, out of it and maybe more assets as
a result, and maybe even play with the

formatting, play with some SEO, play with
some longer form, switch it up, mix it up.

But ultimately not feeling like I need
to ship something every single day.

Via email, which was,
which was what I was doing.

So that doesn't mean that I'm
going to slow down tremendously,

but, but it was a big, um, but.

We'll get into the reasons why
I'm going to stop doing this.

It was really helpful to, to do that in
the beginning of, to clarify my thinking

and forced me to put it in the paper.

And if you can write it out, it, it
shows the clarity of your thoughts and.

So just thinking about things
is not always the best way to.

To, um, to know if your ideas
are any good, you have to

put them out into the world.

So it clarifies your thinking and
forces you to put it on paper.

Um, and then it forces you to share
with the world and get feedback.

So getting that feedback has
been really helpful as well.

And I've got a lot of engagement on my
email list and people responding to a

lot of emails and, and I can kind of
see what resonates and what doesn't.

And so it kind of gives me hints
as to where I need to focus my

content, my energy, and maybe ideas
that are either less useful or.

More valuable for another day.

So that was one of the main reasons that
another one is that, you know, it really

does, as I was starting at, this is sort
of a new project in a new target market.

You kind of creates that escape.

Velocity allows you to.

It allows you to, it allows you
to gain enough momentum, to build

a little bit of an audience, to
build the seeds of a community.

And those have been really great
benefits and byproducts, but it allows

you to kind of get off the ground.

And use that as sort of the rocket
fuel, you know, when a rocket is going

into space, it uses an extraordinary
amount of energy to get off the

ground and then to get momentum.

And then ultimately to.

To get into the atmosphere.

So that's why doing daily
writing or very frequent writing.

Uh, was really valuable for me.

It helped build a mini audience and
a community that's still growing.

And it also helped me clarify my
thinking and all the other benefits.

Um, I also noticed that, uh, the
people that I subscribed to who

have done or who do daily writing.

Uh, I've I've purchased from, I purchased
something from all of them, and that

was just kind of an interesting,
Uh, tell is that, is that, uh,

You know, at some point in
the journey I've purchased

something, whether a small ticket.

Book or something as large as a
consulting or coaching engagement.

And so I know that it
works on me as a consumer.

I like reading daily content
on very specific niche topics.

And I think that's really
critical as well, too.

Uh, to be able to write dailies,
you have to think small.

And so forced me to get small in terms
of my topics in my niche and my ideas

so that I could then broaden again.

Uh, and then do you know.

Yeah, so I can kind of go wider,
but first figuring out what is

the core ideas and who is it for?

So, Because I knew that insight and
because I believe in that frequency,

recency and potency as the main factors.

For, uh, doing daily writing
and it allowed me to kind of.

To, uh, to.

Put myself out there in a way that
has created a financial ROI and it's

still continuing to, and that's great.

And so I'm going to continue to kind
of evolve my strategy more in alignment

with my current energy and interests.

Um, the other last thing I'll say
is that it is a differentiator.

There's not many people out there
who publish seven days a week,

particularly to their blog or email.

And I think it's a bit of a
different format than social media.

Uh, or, you know, LinkedIn,
Twitter or other kind of platforms.

I think those are, those
are great platforms.

I would encourage anyone.

To publish as often as they,
as they can or want to on.

These social media platforms,
but very few people are willing

to publish it on their own.

Website and have that sort
of sense of permanence.

And I think that's the
best place to put it.

If you're going to invest energy daily
into content, ideally wants to live on

your website and then maybe repurpose
it for distribution purposes on say

LinkedIn, Twitter, other places.

So.

It, uh, it does kind of create a
differentiator because in the world where

there's a million kind of gurus or people
who are claiming they can help you.

Uh, Very few of them are showing
up every single day, which is a

form of credibility in itself.

You're more likely to be.

Less risky when you're writing daily,
because you're showing up, you're

showing that you're consistent.

And I think that's a really
valuable quality when people are

considering hiring you for thousands
or tens of thousands of dollars.

So, those are kind of the main
reasons that I got into it and it's

been extraordinarily beneficial
and helpful, and I continue to.

I'm grateful that I've done
this and I'll continue to

publish as often as I, as I can.

The risk in.

Allowing myself off the hook of daily.

So this is one day after I've
said I'm not going to do daily

and I'm recording this podcast.

So I may just continue creating
content to the extent that I can.

I just don't want to have to
feel like I need to do it.

At midnight after a long day.

Cause I couldn't get to it earlier or
after, you know, 11:00 PM at night.

Uh, so we'll get into some of the
reasons I'm I'm I'm not doing it, but.

Um,

Yeah, it is.

It is the benefit of writing
or committing to daily.

Is that a force you to dig deep?

Find your best idea that day articulated
whether on audio or a podcast like this.

And so I think it's a really valuable
exercise to go through, especially

if you are feeling inertia and most
of us are not competing against the

most similar competitor on our market.

Most of us are actually
competing against inertia.

The inertia in.

In the minds and bodies
of your target market.

So doing nothing is far more prevalent
than hiring your competitor to do the job.

So, uh, You know, I think it's really
just important to kind of get inertia.

To flip that concept around back to you.

Uh, is if you're feeling inertia with
your own marketing, the best thing to do

is the best medicine is just a published
daily or some other fixed schedule.

And so I'm, I'm playing with this idea of.

Doing a little bit more kind of
variable publishing and, you know, if

you kind of tied, I think, you know,
in a way it's more interesting because

it's kind of like a variable reward.

When you go to the slot
machines and you pull the.

The slots, slot machines.

Uh, not that many of
you are avid slaughters.

I imagine you're not, but even if you are.

Um, because you only win.

Sometimes there's a
variable reward element.

So it actually kinda makes
you look forward to that.

A little bit more and
it kind of creates more.

Compelling and more.

You know, you can, my theory is that
potentially it'll be more exciting

to see my name pop in your inbox.

'cause it'll feel like, well, I
wonder what he has to say today,

because it's important enough that
he's writing or communicating today.

Um, because he doesn't have to do
it every day and therefore there

must be something good to say.

So it kind of increases the stakes
a little bit on me to make sure that

the content is good and worth reading.

Uh, nonetheless, having a
schedule is really a great forcing

function to make you publish.

When I was writing weekly, it was
really hard for me to publish.

And when I wrote daily,
I just got it done.

Even today.

This is one day after I said,
I'm not going to do daily.

Here I am publishing again.

It's going to be really hard the first
day, whether that's tomorrow or whenever

for me not to publish something.

Cause that's the effect of
consistency and momentum.

So we'll see how it goes.

I just want to let myself off the
hook for a bit, and I'll kind of

talk about why, why that is now.

So why am I, what are the reasons?

Number one?

You know, I'm at capacity, I'm at the top.

More or less of my capacity.

And, um, and what that means is that
there's, there's, you know, there is room

in my day, but, um, you know, probably
about 40% of my day is not on calls.

Or, or more, um, but when you factor
everything in, it gets really hard

to do kind of deep work and the
work that I do, you know, sometimes

there's communication between calls.

And so it ends up being that I'm more
or less at the capacity I want to be,

uh, so that I'm not working nine hours
a day, but I have some breathing room.

Uh, but it's still, it's still adds up.

And the other thing is that.

Um, my, my I've, I've got a new
baby due in a month, so I want

to kind of put myself in a place
where I have ample breathing room.

You know, and things are going
great in the business right now.

And I'm grateful.

So I'm not going to take the foot
off the gas, but I am going to give.

Let myself off the hook for it,
for those one or two times where

I'm just too tired to function.

And therefore, I don't want to
subject said this to someone who

responded to my email yesterday.

Uh, I don't want to subject my
audience to, uh, my baby brain daily,

especially in those days where.

You know, frankly, I can imagine it's
going to be a little bit much for a while.

So.

Um, And also I'm not getting great sleep.

Now my, my kiddo wakes up sometimes
in the middle of night and

sort of interrupts my sleeping.

And so a lot of times I'm getting
limited sleep in this, you know,

a whole bunch of stuff, but.

So you just had to be realistic
about bandwidth and trade-offs and

I want to make sure that the quality
of work that I put out is good.

But I'm not gonna overthink that either.

I'm still going to aim for 80 or 85%.

Perfect.

And then ship it because
that's going to get the result.

And it's not about perfection.

Perfectionism is what prevents you from.

From publishing in the first place.

So I'm not going to fall into that trap.

I'm not going to promise that.

All my content going
forward is going to be.

Perfect.

And the most articulate, well
thought content in the world

that I think gets in the way.

Of results, which is what your hard for.

So, uh, in knowing that, you
know, I already have a full plate

of work and again, the worst
thing you can do is get so busy.

You don't do your own marketing, so
I'm not advocating for doing well.

No marketing, and I'm going to
keep, keep publishing obviously.

And keep doing other things.

Um, but I want to just
be realistic about that.

Plus current sleeping plus new baby on
the way in a couple of weeks, I really

want to kind of keep buffer and bandwidth.

When my first kiddo arrived, COVID
hit shortly after and we were

just completely sleep deprived.

I also took on every client I could.

And so you had this combination of the
lowest amount of sleep I've ever had.

Uh, because he's never been a great
sleeper, my first born and, uh,

and also the most work I ever had.

And it was, it was a bit of a
mess I've continually made my

work more efficient and also not
overbooked myself even to this day.

I'm at the highest revenue.

Probably by, by about 20%, uh, over
the all-time high, maybe, maybe 30.

And, um, So that's all good, but I don't,
I don't want to kind of, I don't want to

burn out and I don't want to be, you know,
In the similar situation that it was when.

One of my first was born and then
COVID hit and we were, you know,

it was just an exhausting period.

So I just want to buy.

Room.

Right.

And I think this there's a season
in everyone's life to earn money

and, and then there's a season two.

Just be realistic.

And I think.

You can earn tons of money
without working tons of hours.

And that's the goal is to reduce the
level of intensity with the work we do,

nonetheless, that requires some trade off.

So I'm giving myself breathing room.

I'm letting myself off
the hook for a season.

But I'm still gonna publish
relentless as much as I can.

Uh, and play with it, play
with the format a little bit.

So number one is yes, I'm booked, but
that's no excuse because I would even,

no matter how busy I am always mark and
myself, and that's gotta be the rule.

If you find yourself too
busy to market yourself.

Uh, the business is running you and it's
only a matter of time before it runs out.

And then you're now replacing a
pipeline with no with no leads in it.

And that's not great.

You always want to keep people warmed up
and keep people exposed to your ideas.

And, and then, you know, when
the time is right and you can,

you can sell when you need to.

So that's that baby on board, uh,
fully booked sleeping as a factor

and energy overall, I find myself
writing, you know, at 1130 at night.

After a, you know, it's gone to sleep
and I've done all the chores and

cleaning of the day and walk the dog and.

Uh, it can be, you know, if I didn't get
it done in a day, then that's yet another

thing that gets in between me and sleep.

So.

Uh, got to factor that in.

Um, the other thing is that there's a
sort of a general feeling like I have to.

So when you publish daily, that's a
good thing when you need that momentum.

But I've gained the momentum now.

And so now it sort of feels like
I have to do it, but I don't.

And lots of times I feel great
about it and I want to do it and

I feel great after I published it.

Just like exercise.

Uh, which I try to do every
day, as much as I can.

Uh, some days I don't.

But it does feel good when you get
it done, but it also comes at a cost.

So, um, I don't like this
feeling like I have to do it.

I want to kind of give
myself a freedom to.

To create again and sort of, you
know, and to continue to play

with the format, to play with the
content that I produce and share.

And curate and, and whatever else.

So I want to be able to add a little
more flexibility and also potentially

invest in things like search engine
optimization, maybe a longer form content.

Um, that sort of thing.

So playing with the structure so I can.

Frankly, see how, see what results I
get Z kind of how things are impacted.

Um, so there's that.

And what else there is also, I
think one of the things that I.

That I noticed is that the people, I
like their content that I like reading.

Their content is a little more
sporadic or it's once a week.

And so you run this risk of on
the one hand, the daily publishers

you tune out after awhile.

Uh, but you drop in and out
of their content depending on

where you are in your business.

So that's always a good thing.

And the benefits are that it
keeps showing up in your inbox.

So you have to hire them or work
with them, even if you don't read

their content, which is crazy.

It's almost like an ad for their name.

Uh, as long as you're adding
value, you get to stay in people's

inboxes, which in and of itself can
produce tons of business results.

But the people I read the most and
people I'm most excited to read.

Right.

A little bit less often, it's kind
of variable or it's maybe once a

week and they just write a good.

Original piece of content that a.

That, that I look forward to reading.

And so I wanted to kind of just be aware
of my own buying habits and my own.

Uh, reading habits so that I can
kind of produce content that, um,

would resonate with me and therefore
hopefully resonates with many others.

One of the ways I'm doing that is
through audio content versus writing.

Like if I were to write all this down,

This would be a really long process, but
I'm now 14, 15 minutes into this end.

Uh, Um, it's been good.

So.

It allows me to get ideas out.

So playing with the content
formats, and I want to interview

more people and there's a lot of
stuff I want to do in my business.

And you can't, you can't do it all.

I want to interview
people for this podcast.

I've just interviewed someone
yesterday and I'm going to be

publishing that in the next couple of
days in this, on this podcast feed.

So.

Um, lots I can do, but you just
have to be pragmatic about how much

time you have, how much energy you
have and if you're sleeping great.

Like when I was sleeping eight,
nine hours a night, Oh man.

I was feeling on fire.

I would kick it exercise,
especially, you know, before kids

that can exercise in the morning.

We're a great day, you know, and
I could work a night and like,

like, you know, you can just work
more hours and have more energy.

Not so much anymore.

So you just have to be pragmatic no
matter what there's always limits.

And even the big companies that I
work with and consult for they're all

bottlenecked by resources, no matter how
big they are, no matter how big their team

is, no matter how much money they have,
they're all bottlenecked in some way.

So.

That's just true of all of us.

I'm learning to accept this idea of
trade-offs and I think is really valuable.

You just have to be realistic.

And if you're like me,
which I, in some ways.

I imagine many of you are, you're
optimistic about what you can accomplish

within your, the time that you have.

Um, you feel like you can
take on the next client.

Do you feel like you can.

Publish that content.

Do you feel like you can do all
these things and that there really

is no limit to your capacity, but
in reality, you do have a limit and.

Not only do you risk burning
out, but you also risk.

Doing poor quality work or
poor quality outcome outcomes.

Across all the things you do.

And that's the risk, right?

So, uh, unless you have a
huge team, but even then.

Everyone's got, you know, your
effectiveness becomes diminished.

The more you take on.

So I want to keep refining and deleting
and cutting back on my requirements so

that I can produce the best quality stuff.

And keep my head in my energy.

Uh, and my time.

Constraints to my working hours
and, uh, and keep myself feeling and

producing the best possible work.

So that's the overarching
kind of goal with this.

And, uh, yeah, so I think those
are the main kind of reasons.

I think it feels good to not
be obliged to write daily.

The downside, unfortunately, is that.

You know, that rare era of publishing
every day of that claim to fame, I

publish every day on your blog or your
email list or your podcast or all of it.

Uh, is, you know, is, is a factor
that I'll lose, but that's okay.

And, um, you know, because I'm
evolving and I think that's important.

So nothing wrong with daily writing.

I think it's a great place to start.

I've done this for 550
days or so in a row.

And, uh, I would encourage people to do
this when they're getting either started

a new project, want to clarify their ideas
or just dramatically drum up activity,

creating content, creating noise.

Brings people's attention.

And hopefully that noise sounds like
music and not like a, I don't know.

Nails on the chalkboard.

And a big fan of creating a lot of
content being, uh, As productive as you

can in that area, because it's the number
one thing that's going to help you.

Clarify your thinking
and attract more people.

The right kinds of people
to your, to your business.

Pre warmed up and pre ready to buy.

And that's kind of the
main goal of the content.

So, um, so that's about it.

I just wanted to kind of share those,
those reasons with you and, um,

Um, I look forward to exploring other
content formats and going deeper.

More interviews and, um, yeah, playing
with playing with the business model

that this is all one big evolution.

I think you have to, you
have to watch what's working.

What's not, um, the emails
that I send have about a 50%

open rate, which is great.

And, uh, you know, but,
um, growth is slow.

There's only a couple of hundred
people on my list, so, um, could

definitely do with a lot more.

So maybe, you know, I'm going to play
with lead lead opt-in incentives and.

And different frequencies
and different formats.

So, um, that's the beauty, you
know, when you're running a business

like this, because my consulting.

My other consulting work
covers all my bills and more.

Uh, the mentorship stuff that I, that I
get a lot of energy from and enjoy doing.

As a long time horizon
that it needs for success.

So I'm not in a rush.

So therefore I get to do things
in a sustainable way and, uh,

keep a long-term perspective.

And that feels great.

When you're not looking to
short-term results and you get

to keep a multi-year horizon.

You do things a bit differently.

And so, yes, I would love to keep running
daily forever, but I know, I know how,

how hard it will be when my kid is born.

And, uh, and, uh, so I think mental,
the mental component of, of what

we do and having mental bandwidth.

So you can do great work.

Is a really vital part.

It's not about to me, at least
in this phase of my life.

It's not about maximizing my revenue.

It's about maximizing my presence.

Am.

And my personal life at home.

As well as with the clients
to do that, I do work with so.

Just want to share that with you.

And, uh, I look forward to.

Continuing to share the journey and
sharing the lessons that I learned along

the way in hopes that it helps you.

Um, definitely publish as much as you can,
if that is aligned with their strategy.

You can go back and look up the
potency, recency and frequency as

being the three, the three things
we look at potency, you'll find

it on my blog or in the community.

Uh, cause that's a really great lever.

And so hopefully there'll be a little less
frequency and maybe a little more potency.

Uh, we'll see.

And, uh, but that's part of
the strategy and the evolution.

Let me know your thoughts.

I'm really curious to hear what your, you.

If you have any followup questions, or
if you're thinking about going daily

and hopefully this doesn't dissuade you.

I think daily is a great, great format.

It adds a lot of credibility clarifies
your thinking and gets your nuts,

your name and your message out there.

So I think that's really valuable.

Um, And, uh, yeah.

And if not, you know, what are you
going to do instead, that's going to

be dramatic or significant enough to
get people to notice and to get them

opting in and to get them engaged.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

And as an outsider, I'd love to
hear what you think is right.

What I should be doing.

If not, if not doing,
if not doing this, uh,

Not making this decision
for these reasons.

That's all for now.

I look forward to chatting
with you again, if you'd like.

If you like these ideas and do you
know anyone who's a marketing advisor

or even a freelancer getting started?

Um, Sending my way, send them to this
podcast, send them to kevin.me/mine.

Sheriff.

They'd like to join the community or,
uh, or just send them to Kevin, not me.

If you want to get on the email list
and see if the content resonates

before jumping into anything.

Uh, they'll get my podcast, my
articles and access to the community.

And I think that's a.

That's my main mission is to
keep spreading the word and to

keep connecting with people.

So I hope this helps and I look
forward to seeing some of you.

We have a meetup tomorrow, May 10th.

Uh, as we do once a month
with the mind share community.

So.

Uh, if you listen to this.

Today on the day I publish it.

Make sure you're there.

Uh, you can RSVP.

From within the community.

And, uh, there's a link in there as well.

So I look forward to chatting with you
tomorrow and we'll talk again soon.

Bye.

For now.