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There is already enough pressure to create really good content when you’re just building a brand. But when you’re also trying to grow an online business, it takes your content anxiety to a whole new level. What do you have to say to do more than just inspire people? How do you actually get people to buy from you? What if you’re too salesy? How do you come up with interesting content that connects on a regular basis? How do you stand out when everyone is selling the same thing?
Like many, I am no stranger to having moments of extreme anxiety about my content. And if I’m totally honest, for the longest time, I used to post on Instagram and then immediately afterwards waste hours scrolling through Instagram pinning my content against others. What had they posted today? I had to know. And if you look hard enough, you’ll eventually find another piece of content that will “expose” the flaws in your own. It was hard–but I surrendered to deep inner spiritual work and with confirmation from my own community, I learned that what I am meant to say in that moment to my community…is what is supposed to be said in that moment. I’ve truly have come to terms that God has planted a gift in all of us for a reason and when you agree to pursue that gift 100%, you’ve made the decision to put your full trust in God.
And so when God, and his Universe, nudge your intuitive compass, you act. And I refuse to deny how God and The Universe choose to move through me.
So now that I am unstoppable and feeling fully confident in my own content, I feel called to help you overcome your own content creation anxiety. Creating content is crucial for your business because if you have any fears around showing up and using your voice, you won’t get paid. And if you are getting paid, you won’t be making the money that is truly possible for you and instead you’ll just be barely getting by.
In hearing my own clients experiences and dissecting my own content creation anxiety, I’ve discovered that there are generally 3 key major fears that hold us back from confidently creating content on a regular basis. It comes down to this:
- Am I actually interesting enough?
- What if I haven’t accomplished anything significant to even create content about the subject matter you’re passionate about?
- Content Fomo: Fear of Missing Out of Writing Good Content
In today’s blog post, I’ll be addressing all three major fears and how to overcome them.
Are you actually interesting enough?
I hear this so much. “Natasha, I don’t create content because I don’t think my story is actually interesting enough.” Here is the thing I’ve learned about figuring out what content really gets people excited and wanting to tell their friends about your brand.
Building an audience and growing your social following is a collaborative effort between you and your community.
It doesn’t matter what you personally feel like is interesting or what you think is boring, you’ll never actually know until you put it out there and give your audience a chance to decide for themselves. Becoming a great storyteller takes time to develop and master. It also takes a ton of time for you to collect the data you need from your audience to be able to decipher what works and what doesn’t. The problem is most people want to skip this part and have a magical genie that will tell them what content to create that will go viral, what content to create that will lead to sales, what content to create that will massively grow their following.
Newsflash: It doesn’t exist.
You really have to put your own ego aside, put your story out there and see what parts of it people find interesting.
I’ve had videos that I swore would go viral, that barely got any views. And videos that I never expected to do well, get over 30,000 views and hundreds of shares. You really never know what will do well until your audience starts repeatedly responding positively to a certain type of content. Once you have that data, double down on that.
But until you do, stressing about this and getting stuck in over-analysis is not going to benefit you. Skip the judgment, it’s really not needed here.
The faster you’re willing to get over the fear of looking stupid, and just show up every single day, the faster you’ll overcome this fear and the fear itself will just seem silly. It all comes down to you being more committed to your success than your comfort zone.
What if you haven’t accomplished anything significant to even create content about the subject matter you’re passionate about?
I used to think that I needed more experience. That I couldn’t be an expert unless I knew everything about the subject I wanted to create content about.
This is such an unrealistic expectation to have because even when you think you know everything you need to know about something, there is always someone to come along and challenge you with their own expertise and experiences. You don’t have to be the most successful or experienced person to talk about something or help others through it. At the end of the day, you’re the expert of your own experiences. And when you’re building a personal brand, people follow you because they want you to help them through your own life experience.
Even if you feel like you’re not skilled enough to create tutorials around a certain topic, you can still document your process of getting better at it. Both of these allow plenty of opportunity for you to inspire people and provide informational content that can change someone’s life.
And last but not least, Content Fomo.
Content Fomo: The Fear of Missing Out on Writing Good Content.
Is there someone in your industry right now that whenever you check out their posts it just feels like they’re nailing it? They’re always talking about pain points and telling stories in their content in ways you neverrrr imagined and it makes you just think like dangggg this chick is GOOD. But while you want to celebrate her, deep down every time you look at her posts, it makes you feel like your content is super basic, it’s all the same, not creative or deep enough?
So then you go to some of your posts that you haven’t posted yet and you start tweaking them to sound better and more impactful, only to realize when you look back much later, you’ve completely lost your voice and all of your posts sound just like her?
This my friend is Content FOMO. The fear of missing out on writing good content is real–it’s rooted in scarcity–and it will have you giving up the exact secret sauce that makes you stand out simply because you believe your writing isn’t as good enough as the next girl. WRONG, SUZIE!
But let’s get down to the real truth of what is happening here. Why does her content seem so “diverse”, “fresh” and “daring”? Well, if we’re honest–it’s because…
- She ain’t paying attention to anyone else’s content. She is tuned out of what all these other folks are doing and saying because you guys–it’s so easy to be influenced. It’s so easy to lose your voice. It’s so easy to consume so much content that you’re unable to distinguish what is your own ideas versus someone else’s.
- She is having so many conversations with her clients and her community that she can’t possibly run out of things to say. Someone that has been in business for 5 years is going to obviously have a way longer and more intricate list of different pain points and things to talk about than someone who has been in business for six months.
- She showed up on all the days that you cowered out, she woke up at 5am before work when you didn’t want to and she didn’t let “I don’t feel like it” stop her from being visible. She showed up, and spoke until she mastered her voice.
So how–when you’re only six months into your business–can you create your own powerful list of pain points and topics that you can talk about in your own content? Well — you stop paying attention to what Karen’s doing and you start listening to your own community. You will be surprised with how much creative opportunity you truly have when you focus on the race you’re supposed to run versus where everyone else is at in their race. By just being an active listener you’re able to pick up all these different nuances that you can create content around.
But — even with that said. It’s okay to start and show up where you’re at now. There are unlimited things inside of you that you are more than capable and qualified of sharing and talking about right now that is going to touch people in deeper ways than the girl with years more of experience.
Don’t give up. Don’t feel discouraged. Your voice and the knowledge that you have right now is all you need to make an impact on not only your clients but your bank account too.
