Super Simple Exercise for Coming Up with Killer Content Ideas that Reflect Your Unique Perspective

INTRO: [00:00:00] After generating over a million dollars in sales and selling one of her businesses with a single email, your host, Kathryn Thompson, takes an unconventional approach to marketing and sales. So if you're ready to tap into a more powerful way to be seen, heard, and a sought after entrepreneur in your industry, without having to spend endless hours marketing your business and chasing clients, you're in the right place.

Be The Sought After Entrepreneur Podcast is here to help you ditch the cookie cutter one size fits all approach to marketing and use your unique energy to effortlessly attract the most aligned clients. When you do this, you can spend less time marketing your business and more time doing your soul work and enjoying the richness of your life.

Welcome to Be The Sought After Entrepreneur Podcast. And here's your host, Kathryn Thompson.

Kathryn Thompson: Hey, hey, super stoked that you're tuning in to this week's episode. I cannot wait to [00:01:00] dive into today's topic because this is going to be of a special interest to you. If you feel like you're creating content, but it's not landing, maybe you're speaking to the void. You feel like you're being friend zoned.

And you've heard me talk a lot about getting more specific and really drilling down in terms of specificity, not necessarily niching down. but making your communication be very nuanced and specific because this is one of the biggest problems, if not the biggest problem that I see a lot of my people have that they don't even realize that they have.

Lots of people will come to me and say that they have a messaging problem, but they're not really sure what that is. And, or they'll come to me thinking that, you know, they need to change their offers or their pricing, or they need to create a new lead magnet of some sort, or they need to build a funnel or whatnot, because they're [00:02:00] not seeing the results they want in terms of sales, clients coming in consistently, whatever it might be.

Now this doesn't mean that they're not selling things and they're not making sales in their business, but they're really witnessing and seeing that it's not consistently happening. And therefore they're coming to me going, help me, help me put my, you know, what I do into words in a way that moves someone from cold to sold really quickly.

And what I know to be a hundred percent certain having reviewed thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of pieces of copy and content is that a lot of the communication is really broad and general. It doesn't get to the specificity that is required to really captivate somebody, to have them feel seen and understood in what it is you're saying, but also feel like they need and want that [00:03:00] thing that you're selling, that demand piece.

We have to create desire and demand in what it is that we're doing in order for somebody to say, yes, I want to invest in that. Whether you're selling a product or service, this doesn't matter. We've got to get specific in terms of who we are communicating with, especially if the market is saturated, meaning There's a lot of players at the table and saturation really does equal market sophistication.

And what that means is, is that the people have a lot of choices out there and therefore they're privy to the tactics that are being used, the strategies that are being used, and we've got to evolve and adapt to that. And that is the ever changing landscape. of entrepreneurship. And so I want to dive into a process that I take my clients through that helps us drill down [00:04:00] in terms of taking that core message or core messages and drilling down into really specific forms of content and copy.

Now, this is just a pure example. So as I'm giving it to you, I want you to then. Take what I'm saying and apply it to your own business and your own style and your own way of doing it. But this is just an example. It's not designed for you to like copy exactly what I'm saying here, but it's a framework that we use to drill down.

It's similar to like a journalist, right? It's similar to somebody who's in journalism or writing a story, that they're rarely taking something at face value. They're not just saying, somebody telling them, Oh, so and so said this. They're going, Great. I'm now going to go cross check that a bazillion times and fact check that and come at it in different angles and see how many ways we can kind of spin this story.[00:05:00] 

That is what journalism is in some degree, right? And this is kind of what we're doing here. When we're coming up with stories and we're coming up with different content bits, and we're coming up with different ideas, we always have to start with that core message. Now I'm going to give you a differentiation between core message and offer messaging.

There are two very different things. Your core overarching message or your brand message is really kind of what you stand for, right? It's, it's why you do what you do. It's who you serve, what your purpose is, what your mission is, and what you're here to sort of create in that world. And it's really backed by your values.

That's what your kind of brand message is. So for example, we look at my overarching brand message, creatively owned, right? My mission really is to support heart led, soul led, impact driven human beings to take their unique gifts, skills, magic, whatever you [00:06:00] want to call it, and turn that into an offering of some sort that allows them to earn a beautiful living doing what they love.

That really is the overarching message. And so a lot of people that I work with are creatives, they're artists, they're change makers, they challenge the status quo, they're innovators, you name it, right? They don't fit the traditional box labels, all those sorts of things. That core message really speaks to that person, right?

Because they're like, yeah, I want to do what I love. I want to break free from the status quo, right? So within that, core message, my values are reflected freedom, creativity, innovation, right? Those are three big pieces of my values that really back my business. It really does reflect who I serve and whatnot.

Now, how I serve them are my offerings, right? Are [00:07:00] the unique offerings that I offer and that looks differently depending on where they're at in their business journey, right? So I've got some offerings like the Offer Architect and the Alchemy of Attraction. Those are really beautiful offerings for people that are maybe earlier on in their journey and are just maybe starting out or they're pivoting and starting anew.

They might want to start there with really how to articulate the value of their offerings and then creating a strategy, Alchemy of Attraction, To really call people into their world, a strategy that's in alignment with who they are. That program is solely designed on choosing your own adventure. It's not about me telling you this is the strategy you need to adopt, right?

So those two offerings are really beautiful if you're just starting out. Then I've got Spellbound, which is then sort of the next tier or the next level. And that's really designed for somebody who has a validated offer. They have an offer. They've, they've got years of expertise. Maybe they've sold [00:08:00] it in some iteration and now they're wanting to package it and sell it online.

And so we're working with them then to really hone and refine that messaging, that text messaging. So that it really truly reflects their expertise and their authority in their industry. And then building out that customer buying journey that takes someone from cold to sold faster. Lots of people that come into my world have been relying on word of mouth and referrals, and now they want a bit of a system in place that creates that consistency and maybe some predictability.

In their business. So that's really what spell bounds about. And then I've got my one-to-one mentorship experiences where I work with people where I either write their copy for them, I develop their strategies and implement them. I build out their funnels, you name it. But that's for somebody who has a validated offer.

They've got revenue coming into their business and that they can sustain that type of investment working with me over a six to 12 month period, because if we are implementing something in their [00:09:00] business, there has to be that long form commitment so that we can actually see the results. Um, and. Really be able to optimize those results over a longer period of time, because a big part of what I do is long term sustainability.

I'm not about quick fixes. I'm not about getting you quick wins that you can't replicate. That's not what I'm here to do. And that's not where I thrive. Right? So that's why like a four week, a 12 week, a six week, like those are really great fire starters. But I know, and everybody knows, is that those are really quick fix, immediate sort of things that light that fire.

I'm bored with that sort of rhetoric. I'm more into sort of long term sustainability because I know, and my people know, they can, they've created results, they've created success, right? They just want to do that on repeat and consistently over time. So those, that messaging is going to look different and it is.

going to be different because it comes down to that positioning of each offer [00:10:00] and each offer speaks to different people. So this is something that I want you to kind of keep in mind because when we think of that brand message, like let's just say, for example, you want to help people find their inner voice and show up in their authentic way.

And you've got a unique way that you do that with unique offerings. Um, I have a similar sort of mission. I just might deliver it differently, right? I'm delivering it through sort of the business vehicle, working with soulful entrepreneurs. You might be working with people that are in a career and it's not necessarily that they want to be an entrepreneur, or maybe they do want to be an entrepreneur, or maybe they just want to be more authentic in their relationships with their partner and their spouse and their friends.

And that's really what's sort of driving them. So you can see that. We can have sort of a similar mission and we can carry similar values, we just might deliver our magic in a different way to different people because that's our [00:11:00] magic. That's what makes us different. That's that unique thumbprint or fingerprint.

So then when we take it a layer down, then it's like, well then what do I create for social media? If I've got all these three offerings, like I've shared with you now, how do I actually talk about them? Well, I go back to that core message, right? I go back to helping soulful, heart led entrepreneurs really bust out of the box and create offers and messaging and content that sounds like them, that isn't fitting some sort of mold, right?

So if that is my sort of approach, and my offerings are what they are, then I'm going to start sort of with that overarching element. Because what happens is, is if we try to just communicate in a sort of a one off thing, right, very spontaneously, we're just like, Oh, I want to talk about this. And I want to talk about this.

What ends up happening is that there isn't the congruency, right? So that's where a lot of people [00:12:00] struggle is all of a sudden the message is sort of all over the place. And if you're multi passionate, like me, we can still have. Passions that are multi passionate and still have that reflect our overarching message.

For example, I really love astrology and human design, and sometimes I talk about that, but I talk about it in relation to the heart led business owner that wants to bust out of the labels and boxes and the mold. that we put ourselves into, right? So how do you leverage human design and how do you leverage astrology?

Well, both of those sort of modalities are all about your uniqueness, right? And then also how that uniqueness contributes to the whole, which is really beautiful. So I want to take you through sort of what I do, which is called mind mapping. Now, my clients will often ask me, you know, how do you actually do this?

Oftentimes I will write things down, but because I'm so seasoned in what I do, it's like second [00:13:00] nature, right? So that's the level of mastery that I'm at with this stuff. What I want to preface is, is that this takes time and practice like any other skill. Marketing is a skill. Communicating is a skill.

Business is a skill, right? Like running a business is a skill. These are skills you need to develop. So if you're a hypnotherapist, or a Reiki master, or you've got certifications in different things, a psychotherapist, whatever you might be, think about the hours of study practice, training, implementation, all that, that you needed to put in to master your skills.

Now, the same is true for me. I've spent 25 years mastering these skills. So I know it can be discouraging, number one, because it's like, Oh, this is a foreign language. I don't really get And, or, one could say, well it's really overwhelming, like I've got to do all this [00:14:00] work to communicate. Well, think about what the work you needed to put in to be a psychotherapist, right?

And if you want to run your own business, there's two options. You can either do your content yourself, Where you can hire somebody to do it for you, right? That is part of running a business. And it doesn't mean that you have to be on social media 24 seven. This is not at all what I'm saying, but you have to be able to communicate what you do to people that are interested in what you're doing so that you can sell what you do, right?

If people don't know how you can help them, they are not going to invest. That's just. Hands down. So I want to break down for you what I call the mind mapping exercise that I take my clients through to help them drill down beyond the surface level core messaging, right? So if we're thinking about finding our voice and being authentic and speaking our truth, then one of the core messages or [00:15:00] one of the core elements beyond that broad scope would be finding your voice.

So underneath finding your voice, what are all the things that we could talk about? Right? So like identifying your natural communication style. One of the things I always ask my clients, a lot of my clients are like, I'm really good at vocalizing. I'm not great at maybe writing long, firm content. Some of my clients are like, I'm really good at writing and expressing that way.

But when you put me in front of a camera and I have to talk to nobody and I'm just talking, I freeze up or I don't know what to say, or I, I thrive in interview style communication. So to sit down and write an email and to sit down and, and, and create posts, it's really difficult for me. So the, one of the first things I always ask my clients are like identifying your natural communication style.

So you could create a whole topic around that. You know, if you think about finding your voice, what's one of the biggest. You could talk about that fear [00:16:00] around judgment. You could talk around how to actually develop your authentic expression. What are your unique ways that you walk people through that?

What are your processes and methods, similar to what I'm doing here right now? right? Mind mapping is one of the ways that I help people drill down. I'm showing you a process. I'm recording an entire podcast episode about this. This is a form of content. This podcast could then be turned into hundreds of different bite sized posts for social media, could be turned into a blog post.

So I want you to think about that perspective, that the drilling down Yes, it takes time and it takes work and all of those sorts of things. But like I said, if people can't understand what you're doing, and if you're just speaking in broad strokes, the broad strokes are just going to fall flat and they likely are.

So what's the alternative, right? You continue to talk in broad strokes and not do this [00:17:00] work. And then you continue to say that you're speaking to the void or. You're hearing crickets or whatever it might be, or that you're attracting the wrong clients, whatever the outcome is of not being really specific and who you want to support.

Um, you could offer voice journaling exercises. This is another thing that I offer my clients, right? I'm like, grab your phone. And when you're in the shower or cooking, um, Driving. Pull over when you do this right, if things start to flow to you right before bed, if it's your phone, uh, you could easily grab your phone.

Or if you want to keep a notepad there and you wanna write like, these are things that I share with people on how to really pull out. When the content sort of dropping in when that channels open, you know, how to speak with conviction, what's your personal story and how do you actually come up with that and share your personal story?

What parts of that personal story do you need to share? Right? These are all things again that I will coach and mentor my people on. But I could also talk about these at length on social, in blogs, [00:18:00] coaching calls, on podcasts, you name it, right? If you think about finding your purpose, like if finding your purpose is part of this, or your mission, or really making sure that you're aligned with your purpose, then you might do a piece of content on values identification.

Like, what are your values? Maybe that's where you're starting. Maybe your perception of this is that, Most people don't know what their values and priorities are, and therefore, they're just going through the motion, and they're on this track that's not bringing them anywhere close to their purpose, and therefore, they're not satisfied or fulfilled, and the reason why is because they actually don't really know their values.

Legacy planning, right? That could be an element of it. Like, what is their legacy? What do they, what are their values? What are they here to do? How do they define success? What does success look like for them? What does legacy mean to them? You know, passion to profession roadmap, like maybe they're wanting to turn a passion into profit or a [00:19:00] profession, but they're scared.

They don't know how to do it. Um, and maybe it's, you know, You know, the pros and cons of doing that, right? Will it still be a passion if I turn it into a profession? Like you can have so much kind of fun with it. Uh, impact assessment tool. Like what is the impact that they want to make? Are they driven by impact or money?

Right. What, what is it that they're driven by? What is their life mission? Right. If you actually look at it and what is that mission, then. And the overarching soul mission. Maybe it's uncovering what that soul mission is for them. And what does that look like in a piece of content? You know, purpose blocking beliefs.

I mean, you could make a handful of lists. And this is where I want to share with you is that, and I'm going to go deeper with this because these bullets that I'm sharing with you under sort of the core message, I mean, you could literally drill down deeper on purpose blocking beliefs. What are the purpose blocking beliefs?

If you came up with 20 of them, those are that's 20 pieces of content [00:20:00] right there. And if you got really specific on the beliefs that align with the actual human that you're wanting to connect with, That's even that much more sticky and potent because that person's going, that's exactly what I'm thinking about is exactly how I'm feeling.

Those are exact thoughts that I'm navigating through my brain. Right? So if, if I think about my beliefs, when I was turning my passion into beliefs, I didn't think it wasn't possible. I didn't think that I couldn't do it. I think the piece that I was stuck on from a belief perspective was, will I actually, Be Satisfied With The Purpose That I'm Pursuing Or Will I Just Create The Thing And Then Eventually Want To Burn It Down, Right?

Or Pivot Or Change Course Or All Those Sorts Of Things. My Belief Was More Around That Component Of It, Right? Is That, You Know, Is This Actually My Purpose? And, and it feels like it in this moment, but I'm, I'm good at really wanting [00:21:00] to pivot and change my mind often. So, how do I know, if I'm going to put in all this effort, how do I know this is actually my purpose?

And then the other big one is, is that can you actually make money pursuing your purpose? Right? Pursuing your passion. Can you actually do it? Was another sort of big belief for me, but somebody else might have a totally different belief that isn't your ideal client, quote unquote, if you know what I mean.

So there's nuance to the people that you're wanting to kind of connect with, but you've got to understand those people. And let's just say the other element of this, the other pillar of your core message is like owning your truth. Well, boundaries, right? To be able to speak your truth, own your truth, honor your truth.

There is an assertiveness and boundaries that need to happen when doing that. Uh, authenticity practices, right? I don't know. I've, I've heard a ton of different ones. These aren't ones that I coach or mentor on, but I've had people be like, stare in the mirror, put your hands on your hip, you know, say it with [00:22:00] conviction, like all of these exercises that people take you through.

I mean, is, is that part of your, thing, or maybe you do a hypnosis. Maybe it's you taking someone through a guided hypnosis that really sort of integrates and embodies in that authenticity. Um, vulnerability, like what's your thoughts around vulnerability? What does vulnerability mean when it comes to owning your truth?

What are the beliefs around owning your truth? What are you scared about owning your truth? Right? These are all sort of drilling down, but then you can drill down even further. Shadow work integration, right? So. You know, is there a fear of rejection? Is there a fear of being cancelled? Is there a fear of what your family's going to think?

Is there a fear around what others are going to think, right? Some of us hold this dear belief around, we care more about what our family and friends are going to say about us than strangers on the internet. But others care more about what the strangers on the internet are going to say than they do about their friends and family.

I care more about what my friends and family are going to think than I do [00:23:00] about a stranger on the internet. Strangers on the internet and trolls on the internet never really bothered me. Like, you want to tell me that I look ugly or my hair's out of place or my whatever, my eyebrows are bushy, whatever.

I didn't care. But it was more around people that actually knew me that were like, what are you talking about now? Or I've never heard you talk about this, or you're more spiritual than I thought you were, right? Things like that were a lot more triggering for me when it came to owning my truth. So. You know, you could walk someone through like a brand assessment.

You could walk people through a truth telling exercises. You could, maybe you're not even doing business coaching and mentorship. Maybe it's just having them being able to own their truth in a workplace. So it's having them Maybe even understand what healthy relationships are. Maybe they're in a toxic relationship at work and they don't actually know and have their boundaries set in place, but they don't know how to communicate because they're scared of [00:24:00] ruffling feathers or pissing people off.

Or maybe the person that they need to have that hard conversation with is their boss. And they're going, well, if I say this, I might lose my job. Right? And then all of the other responsibility stuff that comes with quote unquote, losing your job. Here's what I'll say about this is that most people don't even get to this level of specificity.

Most people are writing at the level of I'm going to help you own your truth. Do you want to follow your purpose? Do you want to live out fulfillment? Do you want to experience bliss? That's all broad stroke messaging. Right? But when we get down to the more narrow elements, what's really actually below the surface, if you think about the iceberg, right?

The above the iceberg is I want freedom. I want to make more money. I want to live my purpose, all of that. Right? These are these desires, these big lofty desires that people want, but below the surface is what's actually [00:25:00] driving those desires. And so we've got to get to below the surface, especially if you're in the online coaching industry.

story. Because if you're not, you're going to continue to hear crickets, attract misaligned clients, um, be friend zoned, feel really frustrated because you're going to be adding to the noise of everybody else. If you can commit to getting more specific and more nuanced, I can guarantee you That your messaging is going to land in a very different way, but you're likely going to enjoy writing it more because there's going to be more texture and creativity and complexity and depth there.

And if you're in my world, I know that depth is part of the work that you do. So your content has to match that your content has to match that and if you're again coming back to going well I feel overwhelmed. This feels like a lot of work. What is the alternative? I want you to ask that I want you to [00:26:00] really get clear on what's the alternative and what do you actually really want?

Because I'm not here to tell you what to do and how to do it and when to do it and all of that Right? You have to motivate yourself to doing that and you have to commit to doing that. Um, and it might mean that this work is something you do on every Friday or it's something you do, you know, once a month or something like that.

And maybe you're paring down how often you communicate just so you can get in a groove and practice. I don't know. You've got to find your own. Style and method and all of that. Again, I'm not here to tell you how to live your life and how to run your business. Um, you've got to figure out that flow and rhythm for yourself.

That's 100 percent your responsibility. Um, so if we go into, for example, when I was saying, you know, finding your voice and I talked about the different communication styles. And one of the exercises is that I get my people to do is I just get them to talk. About. How they like sharing content and what they find easy and what they [00:27:00] don't find easy and pretty quickly on I can pinpoint one, I can pretty much pinpoint their human design just by listening to what they're saying and how they like to communicate and and the ways in which they like to communicate, for example, someone with an open throat, if they are, um, deconditioned, right?

There is a reservation, but not from a place of fear or anything like that, is that an open throat, when they talk, they can talk very, very succinctly and concise. They don't overcommunicate. They don't overexpress. When it's, when they're, Coming from a shadow place, they're just trying to get their word in edgewise, right?

They'll interrupt, they'll get their word in edgewise, they won't know when to stop talking, but someone with an undefined throat, there's a potency, and the potency often lies in their silence. So, Somebody with an open throat often will say to me, I don't really like writing long form content. I don't really like to get on talk for an hour on a podcast.

Great. [00:28:00] I have a defined throat. So I have consistent energy in my throat to talk and to communicate. Hence why I'm a communicator for a living, right? That's part of my gift on this planet is to be able to communicate. So, That's one. Somebody who has an open head center. I have a wide open head center, um, but I have a defined throat.

So this helps. If you have an open head center and an undefined throat, you can find it hard to take what's coming through from a channeling perspective and put it out there into the world. Oftentimes, being in an interview, style, Where someone's asking you questions and you're responding is a really great way to showcase what you do and there's ways that you can do this, right?

So you could go teach in somebody else's community, you could do an interview on a radio show, you could be on someone else's podcast, you could speak at summits, you could do workshop styles, right? So it's like, I'm not going to come here and teach and talk every day. At you, quote unquote, but I'm going to come as a workshop.

We're going to come with an [00:29:00] overarching theme. So for example, if I was hosting a workshop on this, I would say, come with your core message. That's what you need to do. And then we will drill down on all of the specificity, right? And we'll workshop that together. Um, But I need you to come and ask questions, right?

So a big part of my energy is in response. I am in response to the world around me. So if you're giving me nothing, then it's really hard for me to respond to. And I've set my business up that way, right? So, for example, I review people's copy. I'm not telling them what to do and what to write and all of that, because there has to be some sort of form for me to respond to.

I have a wide open head center, so if you're asking me to come to the table and like spitball what you should write for copy and content, I'm like, you've got to give me something to respond to. What are your clients saying? How are they communicating with you? What's the problems they say they have?

Anything has dropped in from you? These are questions I start to ask [00:30:00] people so that I can start to get something to respond to. But if, if somebody is looking to me to just like brainstorm, that's, that's, that can be a difficult thing if there's no two way conversation happening, if that makes sense. So Let's just say for example, you know, you're finding your voice and we're supporting somebody through, you know, the communication style development, you know, one thing could be how to identify your natural speaking patterns.

breaking down your unique humor style. This is huge. I've had clients come to me and I'm like, I don't know why I'm getting this premonition, but I feel like you're like a, a GIF person that you could just speak in GIFs. Right. Um, and they're like, Oh my God, literally, that's what I do. Right. Or maybe they have a dry humor and I can sense their dry humor, but then when they're portraying a message outward, that humor isn't coming forward.

Um, Right? So it's like, what kind of humor, how do you, how do you actually identify that? Cultural influences on your expression, right? What's important to [00:31:00] you? What's your, your cultural, you know, influences? Like, we all have them. And so, how does that come through? What's really important to you? What's, how do you honor that?

Um, writing exercises, finding your voice, writing exercise. Maybe it's, you take people through a journal. Maybe you take them through a visualization. Maybe you do a hypnosis. Maybe the hypnosis is to overcome any of sort of the fear that they have. Um, verbal versus written voice alignment, right? Again, what's the difference?

What's the pros? How to know what you are, right? So if you're putting content out there, it's like how to know the difference and then. Someone goes, Oh, wow, I never even thought of it this way. This is super cool. Like, how can you help me now that I know that I'm verbal? Or how do you know if I'm written right?

You start to create demand and desire for what it is that you're doing when there's an aha that happens. And I think sometimes We think that we have to provide so much value for [00:32:00] people to like want to invest with us when in reality it's just a perspective shift. It's an aha moment. It's like a something that they never thought about before, or maybe there's a relatability factor, right?

Maybe there's like a similarity. Maybe you both, um, hold yourself the same way. Maybe you look the same way. I don't know, but there's also that component as well. So. That was finding your voice. And then within finding your voice, you know, there was like five or six ways you can drill that down. You could probably drill it down even more.

Fear management, right? So if you think about finding your voice, there's going to be fear elements, addressing imposter syndrome, dealing with criticism constructively, breaking free from people pleasing, overcoming childhood silencing, managing social. Anxiety and self expression, like there's so many there and even those are broad scope because we're not layering it against a specific business.

But [00:33:00] for example, if you have a unique perspective around imposter syndrome and why people have it, or you have a unique methodology or modality or way you help people overcome imposter syndrome, Reiki, energy healing, hypnosis, um, like whatever it might be, you might have a process you take people through.

This is where you would want to interlay that, right? Because then simultaneously you're creating awareness, you're creating desire, but then you're creating demand. When you put your own unique perspective, your own unique angle, your process, whatever, then the demand comes because it showcases what makes you different.

So for example, when I talk about messaging and I talk about marketing, one of the things that is unique to sort of my take is the four levels of consciousness. And the reason why is because traditional marketing doesn't even break people down like that, but doesn't, most people don't [00:34:00] understand the levels of consciousness To the way that I do because of the work I've done, right?

So I exist and live predominantly at a four, but sometimes I will swing back into three, depending, right? I'm human, but I understand the spectrum because I've lived it. I've gone from one to four. I've experienced it. I've lived it, but now I've reviewed thousands and thousands and thousands of copy, but also tested my own stuff.

And I know this, right? But that took me time to sort of develop. Similarly, you might have a method that you've taken time to master and develop, but it's bringing in your unique perspective is what's going to make this even more potent, right? So, you know, again, storytelling mastery, right? You could do a whole thing on storytelling, personal narrative, turning struggles into strength stories, whatever your angle is.

And maybe your angle is. You don't have to have a struggle story that turned [00:35:00] into success, right? So for lots of people that come into my world, they're like, I'm a psychotherapist or I'm a clinician of some sort, practitioner, and sure, I might have a struggle story, but it's not like a rock bottom story.

Like I went to school to be a psychotherapist. They're not really building quote unquote, what we call a personal brand, right? A lot of coaching People out there that was the, you know, the break, like break down to breakthrough stories. I always was like, but I'm a trained marketer with 25 years of experience now.

Like I didn't start my marketing career at rock bottom and then somehow grow. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't have that rock bottom story because I'm a trained marketer. So lots of coaches that went into the industry were like, I have this struggle. I overcame this struggle and now I'm going to coach on said struggle.

Therefore, I'm going to tell that story. For [00:36:00] me, it was like, I'm a marketer, I'm a good at what I do. I've worked years in creating results for people. I've now owned my own businesses and created epic results. And now I help clients do the same. There wasn't really that struggle story. And so that was a unique take for me.

Because I was like, I don't have a struggle story. And when everybody was preaching, you had to have a struggle story that cut through the noise. Cause then everybody else that was like, I don't have a struggle story either. I relate, right? These are the things you want to pay attention to. And these aren't made up.

These are just like, how don't I fit? This is a really great question. How don't I fit? And not from a judgment place, but literally what is What doesn't fit in this, you know, model or way of being, or way of doing things? And what is my unique perspective as a result of that? Um, using metaphors, like how to use metaphors effectively.

That's like brilliant or analogies, right? Um, how to create emotional [00:37:00] connection. Why emotional connection is important, you know, whatever it might be, but then like interlace your unique perspective on that. And I could go on and on and on. That was just finding your voice, right? We went through finding your purpose.

We also went through owning your truth, right? I mean, under boundaries, just alone, think of how many ways you could talk about setting boundaries, but then interlacing again, your unique perspective on that, like your approach, your method, all of those sorts of things. So. This is how we, what I call mind map, and this will continually evolve.

And when we have this perception, here's what makes this easier, and almost makes it that you don't actually have to do it anymore, is that you have this in your mind and you've done it a few times, and then when you're listening to people talk, you can start to really see how some of the things they're saying, maybe the questions they're asking, can really benefit the Somebody else, right?

So this podcast episode came from a client who [00:38:00] was like, okay, I feel like I have this like broad core messaging. I know exactly what, who I want to help and how I want to help them. And I know who my people are and I know how I want to contribute to the industry, right? There's a lot of people that come into my world as well.

They're like, I don't want to just be noise out there. I want to contribute and I want to like co create with my people. And so. Then it was like, but then what, like, how do I take these core messages now and turn them into content? And I said, well, that's where we, we mind map. And this is how we mind map.

And then we took the core elements of her core messaging and we started to kind of drill down. And then it was like, now you take that and Sort of framework and continue to play with it, right? It's a living, breathing ecosystem. And I think that for a long time, lots of people got hung up on the idea that it was like, I just want to create the thing, the one and done, create this passive income and never have to touch it again, the problem with [00:39:00] communication.

It's not even a problem. The reality of communication and the reality of messaging and the reality of connecting with humans is that it's an ever changing, evolving thing. As we grow, as we change, as industries change, nothing stays consistent. And so we continually have to nurture and evolve and grow with it.

It's living, breathing, right? If you want to create a message that just sits in a box and quote unquote, creates this passive income for you, never have to touch it again. Eventually. That voice is just going to get, it's just going to suffocate. Cause it could be in that box. It's good. There's going to be a lid on it.

And it's like, well, it's not living and breathing. It is because everything we do in business is relational. Everything at the exchange, no matter what, right. There's real humans coming in and buying your products and services, whether they're a do it yourself or not. And so there has to be the energy behind it that's alive.

And [00:40:00] that's what I keep. You know, saying to my clients and I say to you, the messaging and what you say and how you communicate it has to come alive. And so, there has to be a feeling, there has to be an energy behind it, there has to be a passion. And if it's just, Writing content for the sake of writing content, to get someone to do something, to buy something from you, they're gonna feel it.

And it's going to just completely vibrationally go out into your words. And if you're frustrated with it, they're gonna feel that as well, right? If there's resentment, Oh my God, I don't get any engagement. Oh my God. I'm not getting anybody. Click on things. Oh my God, you know, people message me, but then they don't respond and they go to me.

All of that is coming out into your business. I'm not saying that we can't be frustrated. And I'm not saying we can't be not satisfied with what's happening. But I think it's like taking that and, and getting curious with it and going, okay, how do I want to [00:41:00] change that? So if you're not satisfied with how your messaging is performing, and you're not satisfied with the type of people that might be attracting, or you're not satisfied with it because maybe it doesn't sound like you, then this is the work that you need to do.

You need to spend time taking that broad message, that broad mission, who you're here to serve, why you're here to serve them, and why does this fricking matter to you? And you need to drill down on that. And then you have to ask yourself, How do I look at things differently? How do I approach this differently?

And where does my unique way of being fit within this? I gave you an example of mine with the levels of consciousness, right? Uh, I gave, I can give many, many more examples of how I approach what I do different. A lot of my clients come to me who are creatives, right? They're innovators, they're change makers.

And so the notion of marketing and strategy and all of that is, There is a stigma around it. And so I don't [00:42:00] even, I will ask us to just not even use those words, right? I'm like, how about we just don't call it marketing? How would we call it something else? Right? Because our words carry weight and it's the perspective that we put on them.

That is the weight, right? So if you're like, Oh, gross strategy, it's restricting, it's boring, it's too analytical, right? Then of course you're going to have that perception when you start to create a strategy and that's going to flow out of you, right? Similarly, if you're like, Oh, marketing, I don't want to be pushy.

It's too salesy. Everybody's in my face. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All the things. And we're out here sort of judging in our own way. And I've done it. I've been there. Trust me. Then that's going to come out in your marketing, right? People are going to feel that in your marketing because either you're not going to market in a way that you truly fricking want to market because You're hung up on the word marketing, but two, you think marketing has to be done a certain way, and you can reinvent the rules, and that's the whole essence of this, [00:43:00] but you get to do that.

That's you ideating, that's you creating, and that's really what this mind mapping is all about. It gets you to ideate, right? It gets you to sort of get ideas out on paper. It gets you to sort of see things and then start to create. Ask questions, and as somebody in my world, I'm, I can almost guarantee you this is the work you do with clients.

You go deep with them. You don't, they, they don't come to a session with you and you, they say something like, I'm feeling really, you know, frozen. I can't really take action. Oh, that's too bad. Okay, well, what do you want to do about it? Well, no, you wouldn't say that. You would kind of, you would start to ask more questions, right?

You would start to get a deeper understanding of why they felt frozen. When do they feel frozen? Where in their body do they feel it? Right? You wouldn't just take it at face value. Same thing is with your marketing message, right? You don't just want to put it out there in face value with the assumption that people are just going to get what you're saying, right?

We want to start to get inquisitive with our own voice and our own messaging. What does [00:44:00] that actually mean to us? I was recently asking a client, I said, What do you want 2024 to be? I want to kill it this year. Cool. What does kill it mean to you? Oh, great question. Shares more, shares more, shares more, right?

Because it's like, what does kill it mean? To me it means something, but it could mean something totally different to her, and it absolutely does, because we're all unique beings. And so the same goes for the messaging, the content, all the things that you're putting out there is that the specificity, the curiosity, the depth, the drilling down, is so important because it's the drilling down that builds that understanding and forms understanding with one another.

So I hope this episode has been beneficial for you. My only ask, if you're listening to it at this point, is that you go away and play with this. Go away and have fun with it. Go away and even turn it into your own process. If you're a voice. Like, it doesn't have to be you writing it down. It doesn't have to be an actual mind [00:45:00] map where you're putting a word in the center and mapping things out.

It doesn't have to be that, but if you're a visual person, doing a mind map is great. And Miro. com is a really great way to do that. I'm not affiliated. There's no affiliation links, but I've had people ask me, what platform do I use? And it is literally like a big mind map and you can just go layer and layer and layer deeper into it.

But again, find a way and a method and whatnot, um, that this framework works for you because that's the goal, right? If you're like, Oh man, I don't really want to be on my computer to do this. I'd rather use pen and paper than go use pen and paper. Right. And this is where I'd love to invite, um, perspective shift, because I think a lot of times when we have people sharing their insights or their thoughts or their perspectives in a way to support, we continually fight for our limitations by trying to keep us in the very box.

So it's like, Oh, well, I don't want to do Miro or I don't want to write on paper or I'm way [00:46:00] better with voice. Well then do that. This can still work. right? This can absolutely still work the way that you want it to work and that works for you. So, and maybe it's like, I need someone to ask me the questions.

You have your broad message and you're like, Hey, I'm going to have a friend of mine ask me questions. Somebody who I know asks really great questions. Bingo, right? Or if you're in a coaching program or you've got a coach or a mentor, bingo. These are the questions you want to bring to your coaches. Not what should I say?

Or I'm getting crickets or nobody's engaging on my posts, right? It's like, Hey, This is what I've done. I've taken my broad message, I've narrowed it down. I'd love for you to, you know, and blah, blah, blah, whatever. Right? Because again, it's kind of like the killing it. I'm killing it. Right? Well, what does that mean?

And we as humans have to start to learn how to communicate in a more specific way that really reflects what we're saying. Because if someone isn't your coach or your [00:47:00] mentor. They're probably not going to ask you those questions maybe, right? Because they might not be trained to do that. So if you're saying in your, to your spouse that you want to kill it in your business this year, and they're like, cool, that's awesome.

Go kill it. Right? They might not get inquisitive with you about what that actually means from a, from a place of understanding. And then therefore, Won't understand. Maybe when you come to them later on going, I'm really struggling. I'm not killing it in my business. Like, you know, why? Why don't you support me?

Or how can't you support me? Or whatever. And they're like, well, I didn't even know what killing it meant, or whatever. Right? So we gotta. Really, this will really help you on, on many levels of communication. So with that, I'm going to leave you, but I really hope that this has been supportive and helpful, and I cannot wait, uh, to hear from you.

You can drop me a DM if you found it helpful. Cheers. 

INTRO: Thanks for listening. We'll see you right back here next time. You can also find us on social media at creatively owned and [00:48:00] online@creativelyowned.com. Until next time, keep showing up as your authentic self.