Content is your craft: It is so much more than just stuff you’re posting on the internet. In fact, people wouldn’t be consuming your content if they didn’t need it in some way. That’s why it’s so important to shift your thinking when it comes to content, and see it as the art form it is.
On a recent episode of Should I Start a Podcast, Ronsley had a stirring conversation with Gabby Wallace, creator of the massively popular YouTube channel Go Natural English. Gabby started out her career teaching English as a second language to students at various schools and centres. But after a while, she was yearning for a life that gave her a bit more flexibility. “I wanted freedom to travel on my own terms, not just when school was on break,” she said.
She decided to give video teaching a go, and started her YouTube channel. At first, Gabby was terrified of what people would think of her and how her videos would be received. But as she put more and more videos out there, she built an audience looking for more. Her love of content was born. “No matter what I do, whether it’s continuing to teach English or talking about other topics, I’m always going to want to create content,” she gushed.
But the process hasn’t always been easy. Gabby had to look at her content as artwork in order to give it the proper attention it deserved. Your content is what brings people to your podcast, your channel or your website. So it’s not about blindly posting, it’s about posting with intent.
Always Hit That Publish Button
We all get stuck in our heads. As entrepreneurs and podcasters, it’s easy to talk yourself out of posting something out of fear. “There’s no way to improve just by thinking things through in your mind,” says Gabby. “That’s just step 1. The only way to improve is to create and publish. And really listen to what people tell you after they watch it.”
Reading the comment section can be a trip down the Rabbit’s hole for sure. However, once you’ve established an audience, you’ll be able to discern the comments that matter from the ones that don’t. Always listen to your audience. They may give you an angle you hadn’t considered before.
Once you’ve created that content, don’t let it fester. You can always remove it if it doesn’t resonate with your people. “You have to hit publish,” Gabby explains. “Just hit publish.”
Set a Content Creation Schedule
Now that we’ve established that content is indeed your craft, you need to work at it. It can be a challenge to stick to any sort of schedule when you work for yourself, but it’s essential. But when you don’t have a boss giving you deadlines, what do you do?
“Deadlines are very helpful”, Gabby explains. “Keeping your content in your mind or on your computer is just not helping people.” Give yourself deadlines. Set a content creation schedule for yourself.
Make up your mind to put out an episode or video every week, or biweekly, and stick to it. The same day of the week every time. That gives you an outline to create the rest of the schedule for the week. For example, Monday you write your script. Tuesday you make your content. Wednesday you edit your content. Thursday you write your accompanying content. Friday you hit that Publish button.
Like Gabby says, “I’m creating media. This is video. This is going to be out there whether I’m standing in the classroom or not. People are going to be consuming this content while I’m doing other things. And so I need to make it as good as I can, while still hitting Publish consistently and often.”
Content is your craft.
So work at it. Don’t let fear keep you from hitting that Publish button. Someone out there needs to hear what you’re about to say. So say it. Film it. Write it. Whatever you need to do, just get that content out there.
Listen to the full Should I Start a Podcast episode with Gabby Wallace here.
Author: Ronsley Vaz
Ronsley is the founder & chief day dreamer at AMPLIFY. He is an author, speaker & serial entrepreneur.
He has a Masters’ degree in Software Engineering and an MBA in Psychology and Leadership. He is known as the creator of We Are Podcast – the first Podcasting Conference in the Southern Hemisphere, and the host of The Bond Appetit Podcast and Should I Start a Podcast. He has an audience of over 3 million in 133 countries.