A Single Idea Is Overrated — Be a Badass Content Machine
Find your passion for the “journey” by solving multiple problems
What’s your North Star?
It’s your guiding light that leads you to the destination of your choice. Most of us don’t know where the heck it’s taking us, but it's a path to follow.
Content creators need to throw gallons of mud at the wall before finding out what sticks for them. Sometimes, more than one kind of mud works.
This goes against the sacred idea of “niching down.”
The most important goal, as a creator, is to help people without asking for anything in return.
If you can do that and build a habit, you'll eventually figure out your North Star.
Follow this distribution model
We talk a lot about repurposing at my job.
We look at competitors' TikTok and Youtube accounts and brainstorm how to do what they do, but better.
The answer lies within creating a seamless process between different team members. Make content once, and redistribute the living sh!t out of it.
Okay, so what does that mean? Redistribution is nothing new. It essentially means making one long-form piece of content, usually in the form of an 8–10 minute Youtube video, and taking the best pieces and making short-form videos from them (like TikToks).
The reason why you should do this is that it saves you time.
I'll give you a personal example. I’ll spend 25–30 minutes writing an article. It’s a low-effort task I can do after working for 8 hours.
I then spend another 30 minutes editing it relentlessly. Then, I submit it to a publication, which graciously posts my work.
Even though the heavy lifting is already complete, the work isn’t done there; while I admit I've been lazy about this lately, repurposing is (should be) the easy part.
For example, I’ll take readers' highlights and turn them into Tweets. I’ll publish my articles on LinkedIn. I’ll use the main idea of a paragraph and turn it into the main idea of an entire story.
None of this takes much time. You just have to do it. When you dive into a flow state and knock all the work out at once, you save yourself time to do other things you want to do.
Follow the Trend
I like writing about my road trips with my friends.
Unfortunately, a tiny percentage of people are interested in my anecdotes. While personal stories are nuanced, they need to have a lesson, and I've found that personal accounts fit better within a broad spectrum articles.
For example, "7 Small Habits That Can Make You $100K" isn't a personal story. However, if you've made $100K in a year, you can pick from the things that have worked in your personal life and apply them to other people.
Give the audience something they can relate to.
So, while I probably wouldn't write about how many bags of popcorn I ate while driving to the nearest national park, that memory could serve a small purpose within a larger piece of content.
Don't just post anything. I mean, I essentially think of ideas, and I write about them, but that's because I've written almost 200 of these things. I generally know which article will be a hit and which one won't.
I also spend a small percentage of my time taking ideas from Twitter. I get inspired by them and find a different angle to write about as any journalist would.
And here's what no one will tell you (not even yourself)
Nobody actually wants original stories.
We want to be told the same story over and over. I just watched Disney’s Hawkeye show, and while it's a new story for our favorite bow and arrow hero, the main concept isn't anything new.
A girl and her childhood hero come together under bizarre circumstances. She wants nothing more than to be just like him while he wants to fix the situation and go home.
There's buildup, there's a minor breakup between our two heroes, and they come to realize how wrong they were right before banding together for one last fight.
The Hero's Journey is nothing new. Any good movie, book, or TV show follows it because it's the foundation of a "good" story.
So, think again when you say you want to do your own thing. You're mistaken. You should do what other people are doing. Don't copy them, just be inspired.
I promise you won't be the same as any other writer, Youtuber, or TikTok(er) just because you take the things they do well and use them for yourself.
There's a reason everyone does the same TikTok dance. While it's the same dance, everyone does it at least 1% differently. Follow the crowd.
A real badass takes a rest day (Even a rest week)
I'm not perfect.
I honestly think I leave a ton of my potential on the table because I publish three stories a week or less, and I'm lazy about my redistribution.
But, the thing is, I'm in the game for the long run. I've learned to love the journey instead of wishing for instant gratification. You're in the wrong lane if you make content because you think you should.
I'm like you, probably. I have a job that takes most of my attention, which is okay. It excites me to grow within a company and learn from other like-minded people.
You may see your job as a dead-end, but everything is a learning opportunity if you look at it the right way.
Use the time given to you the way you want.