6 Tips to Be a Better Content Creator

Whether you’re a blogger, a podcaster or a vlogger, one of your main goals is to consistently produce new content — that’s why you’re called a content creator!

As a content creator myself, I’m always on the lookout for new tools and hacks that can help me be more productive and get things done.

In this post I discuss productivity hacks for content creators and tools that help you save up to a few hours each week.

I recently came across a system that has completely changed the way I approach my daily and weekly activities.

It’s also drastically increased my productivity and efficiency. Personally, I think the reason this one works so well, compared to others taught by “productivity gurus”, is that it has to do with the way we think.

I have to thank Jonathan Milligan, author of The 15 Success Traits of Pro-Bloggers for it.

In a recent interview for the 360 Entrepreneur Podcast, Jonathan discussed the four habits successful content creators — not only bloggers — have in common:

• Create: the use of text, audio or video to create and spread a message to your audience 
• Capture: the artful exchange of value for email addresses (in other words, creating lead-magnets that people can get access to, by signing up to your email list)
• Compile: the packaging of your knowledge into products and services
• Connect: building a community with other passionate influencers

In this post, I’m mainly going to focus on the Create habit.

1. Get Creative First

Before reading this book, I would start my day by doing tasks that wouldn’t require much thinking — since it’s morning, it’s better to give your brain the time to wake up, right?

That’s when I would reply to emails, edit podcast episodes and create visual content I’d use to promote blog posts and podcasts on social media. I would leave tasks such as writing new posts for my blog and guest posts for another moment of the day, usually the afternoon.

Jonathan’s approach is completely different.

“Do creative work FIRST,” he said during our interview. I listened, took his advice in and tried doing that for the following week.

What an impact it has had, I haven’t stopped doing that since!

The reason it works so well is that small wins fuel our passion. And passion helps us be more persistent and move forward with our journey.

Think about it: What if you have a blog and publish a few posts each week? How do you think you would feel if by 11 a.m. you already had a blog post under your belt and were done with the “creative-writing” aspect of your day?

2. Eliminate Procrastination & Distraction

In order to carry out this habit, however, you have to be in the right mindset and create space. Carve out some time, each day if possible, where you’re only focused on creating content. No distractions, no social media, no email, no TV shows …

Nada, zip, niente.

Make doing creative work part of your morning routine.

If you’re struggling with procrastination, I recommend using apps such as SelfControl, which allow you to temporarily block distracting websites. Think of how many times you have said, “I’ll quickly log into Facebook to check something” and found yourself spending 10, 20, 30 or even more minutes checking the timeline, etc.

That won’t happen with SelfControl.

Another app that can help you track how much time you spend on specific sites or using specific applications is RescueTime. Iif you’re a procrastinator, RescueTime can be a real eye-opener.

3. Use Pomodoro Selectively

Some time ago, I talked about the Pomodoro Technique with Foundr Magazine founder and editor Nathan Chan. In case you’re not familiar with it, the purpose of this productivity hack is to set up a period of time that is dedicated to work and one in which you take a break. You can do that using a timer or an app.

The blocks of time can vary from person to person. Nathan, for example, works for 55 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break. After that, he goes on to work for another 55 minutes and then takes a 30-minute break.

A hack that has helped me increase my productivity is not using the Pomodoro Technique for the Creation habit because the time to create high-quality content varies, depending on the type of content and its length. I use it for activities that don’t require much thinking instead.

4. Create in Bunches

We all know that using images on social media increases engagement and shares, so it’s important to have compelling visuals that go along with your blog posts, podcasts and social media posts.

If you’re doing that by yourself, chances are you’re using powerful tools like canva.com. If you aren’t yet, check it out!

When it comes to creating images, visual content marketing expert Donna Moritz says, “Create in bunches.” Instead of using Canva for five minutes and crafting a single image, spend some time to create images you’re going to be using over the next days or week(s).

That’s what I was doing in the morning because it’s a task that doesn’t require much thinking. The problem was that I sometimes found myself spending hours in Canva, and that would eat up a good chunk of my day.

Now, I use the Pomodoro Technique for activities like visual content creation and podcast editing. That allows me to be more disciplined and can get done as much as possible in the window of time I set.

An alternative to get rid of this “burden” is to simply outsource these types of tasks to your virtual assistant(s) or to freelancers on places like freelancer.com, Elance and (in some cases) Fiverr. If you need something done quickly, you should give Speedlancer a try (where freelancers get things done in four hours).

5. Rein in the Productivity Drain

Let’s talk about something else that can really be a productivity killer: your email. There are plenty of articles on the topic out there, but here are a few tips that help me.

• Turn the notifications off on your phone. You don’t need to receive an alert each time you receive an email.
• Manage Your Day-to-Day by 99u’s Jocelyn K. Glei has really helped me with this. We are all eager to reply to emails as soon as they hit our inbox. Put the sense of urgency aside and focus on what matters. Say you’re based in San Francisco and receive an email from a client in Australia. Is it really necessary to reply 2 a.m. his/her time?
• Apply the Pomodoro Technique to checking your mail. For example, you could set up 15-20 minutes after lunch and 15-20 minutes after dinner to do that. If you’re a commuter and use public transportation every day, you could use your time on the bus, train or subway.
• If you’re worried about sending your emails at a “good time” according to your addressee’s time zone, the Gmail plugin Boomerang is great for that — you schedule a date and time you want your email to be sent out.

6. Save 100+ Hours Per Month

I know — you’re probably skeptical after reading this heading. And do you know what the best part about all this is? Those aren’t my words, but those of content marketing and social media marketing expert Jeff Bullas.

When I interviewed him for the 360 Entrepreneur Podcast, we talked about a tool we both use that helps save Jeff more than 100 hours EVERY SINGLE MONTH.

As content curator your job goes beyond the creation process. Once your post, video or podcast is published, you have to put in place a marketing strategy that will bring your content to readers, listeners or viewers.

When it comes to social media marketing, many people use tools like Buffer and Hootsuite. Now, those are both great — I still use them — but there’s a big problem.

If you have evergreen content, you should aim at promoting it beyond the publishing date. Guy Kawasaki often sends out a tweet promoting the same piece of content four times a day.

With Buffer and Hootsuite this means that if you were to do something similar (and you should!), you would have to write a post or tweet and then copy & paste it into the app four different times. If you have more content, this starts to get messy pretty quickly!

Some time ago, I can across the one tool that has completely reshaped my social media marketing efforts: Socialoomph. What makes it a powerful and time-saving app is that it lets you promote your content in cycles — the so-called queues — without rewriting everything.

Let’s say you have a new podcast episode out each Wednesday. With Socialoomph, you could spend some time crafting tweets to promote the old episodes and have them consistently sent out.

Sure, if you have something like 50 episodes out and you’re reading this post, it may sound like a lot of work. But trust me, it’s going to pay off big time in the long run.

The reason why Socialoomph works so well is that you put in the heavy work at the beginning and then you let Socialoomph work its magic. After that you’ll then focus solely on the latest podcast episode, because all the previous ones are being promoted automatically on your various social media platforms.

This is how both Jeff Bullas and I managed to save more than 100 hours each month in content marketing! If for some reason you end up think Socialoomph is not for you, Edgar is another app that does similar things.

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The productivity hacks and tools I have discussed in this post are going to help you, regardless of the type of content you create. You can implement them all, or simply pick one and focus on the area that is eating up the most of your time and preventing you from being more productive and getting things done. Good luck to you!

(Photo by Unsplash / CC BY)

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What Successful Companies Do Differently

What is your big organizational initiative right now?

Perhaps, you’re focused on increasing sales, decreasing production costs or streamlining internal processes.

Maybe you’re in the strategic planning process or in budget hell.

Successful companies have processes in place to continuously monitor the performance of every function of the business.

Resources are allocated to examine the status of finance, production, logistics, service, partnerships and even consumer perceptions of the brand or company.

However, many overlook the organizational L-word: Learning. Be honest, when was the last time you pulled your best and brightest people into the conference room to examine the way your company learns?

Generation Tension

Traditionally, the structure of learning has been a transfer of knowledge from the veterans at the top of the org chart that trickles down to the rookies at the bottom. However, changing demographics are creating an increasingly diverse and complex workplace.

For the first time in history, your human resources will be comprised of five different generations, and each subset is wildly different. This “generational tension” creates both obstacles and opportunities.

Consider, for example, the Millennials compared to their senior colleagues. While those seniors are gold mines of organizational history and industry knowledge, the rookies are technological wizards who traded their pacifiers for the device du jour.

They see limitless possibilities in the world around them and have very different expectations than their older counterparts. This rich wealth of experience combined with visionary optimism seems like a formula for success.

However, the “hire the rock stars and the rest will follow” philosophy is outdated and shortsighted. A building full of all-stars doesn’t just magically create an all-star team.

In a recent SHRM poll, 47 percent of Millennials identified their senior leaders as micro-managers who don’t value new ideas and are resistant to change. On the other hand, 33 percent of the veterans found a lack of respect, a need for supervision and an inappropriate level of informality in their younger colleagues.

Impacting Bottom Lines

The vast differences in skills, expectations, communication and learning styles can impact performance, engagement, innovation and the bottom line like never before.

An organization’s culture of learning, or lack thereof, has never been more significant. Unless younger employees and seasoned vets learn how to learn together, the ROI on even the most talented group of individuals will never actualize.

Today’s leading companies foster a culture of creative thinkers who can innovate, collaborate, troubleshoot and solve problems. They invest in their people and their ability to learn.

Learning how to learn is life’s most important skill.

Almost 30 years ago, at the inception of personal computing, Shoshana Zuboff delineated the difference between computer-mediated work from earlier generations of mechanization and automation.

She published her ideas in her book, In the Age of the Smart Machine. Her conclusion was that there would eventually be a blurring of the demarcation between “work” and “learning,” to ultimately create a cultural shift from a “division of labor” to a “division of learning.”

Operating in Information Markets

Fast forward to today. That shift seems remarkably obvious given that the evolution of technology in our daily lives has allowed rapid global communications, immediate access to an exponential explosion of information and the trend that market-changing disruptions will continue to accelerate.

We’re getting smarter faster and expectations of a competitive workforce align with that trajectory.

Between the birth of the world and 2003, there were five exabytes of information created. We now create five exabytes every two days. See why it’s so painful to operate in information markets?”

– Eric Schmidt, Google CEO

We’re long past the Taylorism principles of the industrial age. “You’re not paid to think; shut up and do your job.” Thinking, ideating, innovating and problem-solving are exactly what leaders expect from their best people. Yet, for many organizations, learning how to learn isn’t a priority.

Crippled by either the force of inertia or a deeply entrenched top-down culture that neither promotes nor nurtures opportunities for people at all levels to become better learners, these organizations are like the manufacturer who wants more parts faster but never stops to improve his machines.

Despite the wealth of recent brain-based research illuminating how we learn most effectively, many organizations fail to apply these findings and prioritize the practice of helping their employees become better learners.

The inevitable consequence of not learning how to learn is the inability to improve the way you learn.

Creating a Learning Culture

A culture of learning isn’t formed by a committee, and it isn’t an initiative delivered in a binder. It begins with understanding how we learn and an expectation to grow the collective capacity to learn.

It’s nurtured by providing people with multiple opportunities to contribute. People who feel valued for their contributions will seek out opportunities to learn and to share what they know with others.

Driven by intrinsic rewards, they create a learning culture — one of colleagues and co-learners who are inspired to learn and inspire others to learn.

You can’t learn anything if you’re busy trying to look like the smartest guy in the room. Effective leaders not only use the L-word and create the conditions that enable people to learn better, they set the course by demonstrating that they, too, value opportunities to learn.

By cultivating trust in the contributions of others and respecting the reciprocal rewards of a learning community regardless of where people sit on the org chart, they nurture healthy, high-performing teams that breed an atmosphere of success.

Those that are able to grow their “division of labor” into a “division of learning” will realize the powerful fusion of the gray knowledge with the green knowledge rather than sacrifice one for the other. They will enjoy far-reaching dividends long after the current project, product, or campaign is over.

(Photo by tvol / CC BY)

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Why You Still Work at a Job You Hate

You hate your job, don’t you?

You’re tired of the same schedule and the lousy pay.

You’re tired of busting your ass only for your boss to get all of the credit.

You’re tired of begging for days off. You’re sick of working when you’re sick. You’re fed up with having more work piled on you when you’re busy enough as it is.

I’ll bet you weren’t offered a raise when they said you have to take on more responsibility, were you?

You’ve thought about finding a new job or better yet, working for yourself. Perhaps you want to be the one calling the shots and own the whole damn thing. You dream about taking a day or a week or month off whenever you like.

You envision a future where you don’t have to worry about money. You long for the day when you can say that you “made it.”

How long have you been thinking like this?

• Weeks?
• Months?
• Years?

I know I was born, and I know that I’ll die, the in-between is mine. I am mine.”

I Am Mine by Pearl Jam

What Have You Done About It?

What action have you taken? You haven’t done anything? Oh sure, you’re on Google every night, looking up websites and information about “How to find the next Big Idea” or “How do I find my passion.” It’s a start you say!

Now, on the other side of the coin, there are people who are at the proverbial water’s edge, so to speak — all ready to go but they just can’t make the leap.

They’ve done the market research. They’ve figured out how they’re going to incorporate their business. They have a company name and logo and a domain name picked out.

They’ve written a business plan. Everything is in motion, but then they stop. Why?

Drumroll please ………………………. FEAR!

You Are Afraid

Now, don’t get it twisted. You might not be afraid consciously, but make no mistake — subconsciously you’re scared.

• What if I fail?
• What if I go broke?
• What will my wife or parents or friends think?
• How will I introduce myself at parties?

Here’s the good news. It’s not your fault!

Picture a baby that is developing in its womb. It is warm and sheltered. Its mother keeps it safe from danger. It is provided with the proper foods and nutrients it needs to grow. All of its needs are being met.

Now, picture a baby that has just been born. IT’S A MESS!

It is traumatized by the birth. It is born into a world where sound is too loud, and lights are too bright. It is cold and hungry.

It can no longer be fed automatically through the umbilical cord. It is no longer automatically sheltered by the womb inside its mother’s uterus. It is literally cut off from its mother. For all the baby knows, it is alone.

The baby must now rely on others for its survival. They must rely on parents or other adults to feed them and shelter them and provide clothing for them. They must rely on parents or other adults to keep predators away and protect them from disease.

This is where fear in each human being originates — from birth. You are born afraid. You need someone to take care of you.

Original Fear

Spend all of your time waiting, for that second chance, for a break that will make it okay”

– Angel by Sarah McLaughlin

This original fear is the basis for all of our fears. It’s why you wake up every day and dread going to the hell-hole you call a job again, yet you won’t quit.

It’s why you do the same thing every day and think that somehow something will change. Maybe this time it will be different. It won’t.

Take a look at how you got to where you are right now. You followed a pattern, didn’t you?

Pre-school to kindergarten to elementary school to junior high to high school. You were sent to these schools. You were told who your teachers would be, what you would learn, when you could go to the bathroom, when you could eat, when you could play and when you could leave.

All of these things were decided for you by others. You didn’t know any better because it’s literally what EVERYONE was doing. So you kept plugging away until you finally graduated high school.

Then what?

I’ll bet you were offered only two choices — go to college or get a job. If you look at it, it’s kind of really only one choice because the only reason MOST (not all) of us go to college anymore is because we think it will land us a better paying job. So really, the choices are:

• Get a job right away, or
• Get a job four to six years from now.

So it’s really the same choice with the difference being when you decide to join the work force.

Why Do You Work?

Now, why do we even need a job? Some say it’s because we need money for a house and cars and to pay back student loans and to buy food and have a retirement and blah blah blah. They’re right but they’re also wrong.

The reality is that we need others to take care of us. Just like we did when we were born.

A modern day corporation takes care of you by providing you:

• A paycheck
• Health insurance
• Retirement benefits
• Vacation days
• Sick days
• Comp time

All of these are designed to entice you to work there. In exchange, you do the same thing you did in school. You do what others decide for you.

After all of those years of school, you go right back to being told when you can arrive, when you can eat, who you can talk to, what you can wear, who you can date, when your absence is “excused,” what you can work on and when you can leave. You get to help make other people rich. Doesn’t that make you feel just grand inside?!?

The ‘Real World’ is a New Reality

We try to justify all of this by saying this is “the real world.” These are the sacrifices we have to make to have the things we want. Plus, everyone does this so what’s the big deal?

But do you know that this “reality” is only about 70 years old? Out of the thousands upon thousands of years humanity has roamed the Earth, the “real world” as we are told exists is only about 70-years-old, give or take a decade.

For most of human history, we didn’t go to college or even school. We didn’t work for corporations. We didn’t have flat screen TV’s and smartphones and self-driving cars.

We didn’t worry about retirement or mortgages or cable TV bills or cell phone bills. WE DIDN’T HAVE BILLS. We didn’t have any of these things.

We made simple houses and lived simple lives. We hunted our own food and made our own clothing. We built our own houses and made our own tools.

We banded together to help others in our own tribes. We came together to fight off predators and enemies. We still needed others for our survival but on a smaller and simpler level.

Did Ancient People Find Their Passion?

Do you think that a person who lived in, let’s say, Rome in the second century was overcome with angst because they didn’t know how to find their passion? I think “When am I going to eat again?” was probably a bigger concern.

That is the beauty of all of the things that we have now. We don’t have to worry, for the most part, about where our next meal is going to come from or if we are going to have enough clothes to stay warm.

It is a luxury afforded to some of us that we can even think or worrying about “finding our passion.” You can be passionate about a lot of things. Do them all!

We don’t have to rely on corporations to take of us anymore. All of the technological inventions that we have today have made it possible to do things that you used to need permission to do. The choices aren’t just college or a job anymore. You don’t need giant corporations to give you permission to do things anymore.

Take Control Of Your Life

Time to change has come and gone, watched your fears become your god. It’s your decision”

-Your Decision by Alice in Chains

Here’s a list of things that you can do now, on your own, that you used to have permission from a big corporation to do. You can:

• Publish your own books.
• Produce your own movies.
• Create a podcast.
• Create your own YouTube channel and have the equivalent of a weekly TV show.
• Create and promote your own music.
• Build your own websites.
• Create your own online courses.
• Learn how to code.
• Teach a new skill.
• Create a business — drop shipping, subscription businesses, consulting, product businesses, information products.
• Be a freelance writer or a freelance editor or a freelance web designer.

Find Your Inspiration

You can create websites where you don’t own a single thing on the website and make BILLIONS of dollars. These are called platforms. I’m sure you’ve heard of a few:

• Facebook
• Alibaba
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Uber
• AirBnB
• Craigslist

These companies do not own anything. Take Uber for example. You own the car and you are the one doing all of the work, Uber just gives you a chance to find a customer.

You own the room or the house and you are responsible for making sure it’s clean and looks nice, but AirBnB gives you a chance to find a customer. YouTube gives you a place to upload a video or watch others who have uploaded videos.

Facebook is just a place where everyone congregates and shares stories about their own lives. You can hire and outsource work on websites like Fiverr, Elance, Freelancer or Get Friday.

You can find someone who can do pretty much build or create anything you can think of. The technology is there to 3D print a prosthetic limb for Pete’s sake!

Give yourself room to fail. Take a chance. Hire a coach. Keep your day job and start a business on the side.

Take acting classes. Teach a class. Learn a foreign language. Learn how to code. Write that damn book!

There’s never been a better time to take control of your own life. You don’t need others to take care of you any longer.

The original fear you were born with does not need to hold you back any longer. Be responsible for yourself and your own future. Be fearless!

(Photo by Christian Guthier / CC BY)