10 Weeks In
📅 10 Weeks is a long time (but then it isn’t).
Honestly, 10 weeks isn’t that long - 70 days. But then refer to it in months and 2.5 months is a long time.
If I was honest, I didn't think I would last 4 weeks - I thought I’d give it a good go and that would be that, I only managed 3 versions of The Clique on LinkedIn (over 5 months) and I badly wanted to beat that.
Don’t get me wrong, the last 10 weeks haven’t all been easy - there was that one week that I got up at 6:30am to finish the email but in the main, I’ve finished the blog and the email way ahead of time (even when I was in Vegas).
My routine consists of the following -
Everyday - note down all the ideas which could make an interesting blog - I store these in one note in my Apple Notes app. Nothing fancy, just write down the idea as I think of it and then I get to review them.
Friday - review the ideas in my Apple Notes and pick on to start writing. It’s normally on a Friday evening when I create the cover art (see above) as I have a pre-formed template and it takes me around 2-3 mins.
Saturday - start the overall brief of the article, sketch out what the structure will be.
For reference, the Saturday just gone the outline looked like this -
‘Time - My thoughts on the time I’ve been going and what my process is’
‘What I’ve learned’ - the 5 takeaways of blogging consistently for 10 weeks.
‘What I have still to learn’ - 5 things I still haven’t learnt.
Sunday - Write out the main blog article - fill it all out.
Monday - In the evening, before I play football, I normally write the email which accompanies the blog. This is (again) in a template and is fairly straight forward. Having a pre-formed template is way easier than creating it every week.
When one of these days slips, I use the following day to catch up and when I haven’t done anything over the weekend, my Monday evening after football is where I catch up.
🤙🏻 What I’ve learned (or is it learnt?!)
Number One - Skill Improvement
Writing is a skill which can be improved over time (or I think it is) - I find it easy to do and when I’ve had feedback on my writing, people tell me that I write in a relatable way. The way I write is the way I talk - I tend to think about having a conversation in my head and I type fast enough to write it out as it comes out..
The thing I am trying to improve more is that I want to break down complex ideas into simple bitesize chunks - this is going to take practice and by repeatedly writing and thinking of ways I can relate complex ideas to make them interesting and simple is why I want to continue to write.
Number Two - Self Discipline
As I’ve shown in the past, I don’t have a high level of self discipline - if something is optional, I probably won’t do it. The self discipline to have remained consistent over 10 weeks is something that I’m proud of. Building out a routine was something that has really helped in developing this discipline and its something I’m proud of.
Number Three - Creative Momentum
Writing is a habit and once you’ve started - its becomes much easier to keep going. This is something that I’ve heard so many times from other people and when I joined an online writing community (Ship 30 for 30 🚢) - it was something that was heavily focused on but I didn’t get it until I started - let me explain why.
When you start, you have the enthusiasm to get going which means the first two weeks are fairly easy - the first ‘hard’ part is likely going to happen in week three. This is where the routine starts to form and the first ‘writers block’ occurs. When this happens, you start to look for ideas and then they don’t stop coming.
My brain then started to recognise what would make a good blog topic and my Apple Notes app started to fill up with ideas, the more I wrote - the more I got ideas.
(*for example, just writing the blog - I have the idea to write about ‘how I write’ my blogs - the conversational style)
Number Four - Imperfection is OK.
Once I write the blog, I never re-read them before I press publish.
Yep - it’s never proof read. I’m sure the professional writers out there would tell me that I should re-read them and iterate them differently. Maybe I should run the blog through a spell checker and maybe I should put it through a grammar check but I don’t think I’d enjoy the process half as much if I was double checking everything.
I read my blogs when I send out the email - I read the same email that you all get and I see the same spelling mistakes and rambling errors that you all see but that’s where I learn.
I have come to embrace the imperfection of writing on the fly and I kind of like it - I think it adds to the charm.
Number Five - The Content forms a bank.
Every piece of content that I publish forms a back catalogue and I have found myself referring to what I’ve written to create more content - I plan on relaunching my Instagram content in the coming weeks and what I’m writing in long form is really helping me to write short form.
I will also be creating more short form video in the coming weeks and using the long form content is really helping to shape the scripts.
Also - when someone rocks up to my website, I never wanted to be that guy who had sporadic blog posts and the last one being in 2019 - I wanted someone to see regular updates like I’m committed.
🖋️ What I still wait to learn.
Number One - Understanding my Audience
My audience is still relatively small and in that, I can’t really tell what hits.
I get feedback on almost every email I send out - whether its a nod to Miami Dolphins (thanks Mike 🐬) or questions from my audience relating to the blog article, but I don’t think it’s widespread enough to form a conclusive idea of what people want and lets be honest, it’s only been 10 weeks.
This is what I (hopefully) look forward to - getting some form of hit from people who get a sense of connection.
Number Two - The Best Way to Promote
I don’t promote my newsletter/blog/email nearly enough - I tried to do this through LinkedIn and it flunked. I only post once a week on LinkedIn about The Clique and I know I need to do more.
I have never been afraid to promote or talk about something online so I don’t know why I fail to promote the newsletter.
I think I’m going to delve into video to get people onboard over the coming weeks as it’s a medium I’m really comfortable with.
Number Three - Improvements to Creation
Whilst I think I’m fairly streamlined in my content creation, I still think I could do better - what I imagine in the future is maybe having 3-4 blogs in Draft at any one time so that I can have a backup on a week where things get tough.
I think I’m close to getting to this stage as I do have 4-5 ideas which I could tee up already.
I don’t know if ‘seasoned’ creators have this way of working - I’ve heard Mark Schaefer talk about having 3-4 written pieces of work ready to go but I wonder if others have the same?
Number Four - Growing that list.
Growing an email list is seen as the best way to have a passive income, especially if you build a course or something else you can monetise on the back of it but I’m not ready for that yet. I can’t ‘sell’ anything to less than 50 people (I mean, I could try but I don't think it would send me on holiday)
When I get to the stage of having 500-1000 people, I’m looking forward to seeing how I can monetise and bring in a passive income which supplements the way I live.
🥡 The Takeaway
In 10 weeks of consistent blogging, I am starting to see and feel the transformative journey of content creation. It helps that I’m able to draw from personal reflections, challenges, and successes.
The 10 weeks have been made infinitely easier by integrating a structured routine of idea generation, drafting, and finalizing blogs.
I’ve started to see improvements in my writing and more importantly, in my self-discipline.
Two primary takeaways are:
Embrace the Process: Starting might be filled with enthusiasm, but real growth comes when you push through the challenges, such as writer's block in the first few weeks. A set routine and recognizing potential blog topics can propel consistency and creativity.
Value of Imperfection: While professional writing may emphasize proofreading, embracing imperfection - learning from errors can add a unique charm to your work, making it more authentic and relatable.
The right opportunities are waiting for you - but only if you’re willing to step forward and grab them.