Welcome!

A lot of articles and newsletters these days are long-form covering heavy topics. I’m not sure who has time to read them all.

I certainly don’t.

The emails I notice myself reading the most often are short, punchy articles that cover one topic and one idea. Things like what Seth Godin produces.

It’s not that I have an attention deficit—though we all kinda do online—it’s that there is a value vs. time deficit in most medium and long-form content.

In other words, the value I get out of most long-form content is small relative to the cost of my attention.

My hunch is others feel the same way. So, I have three alternative approaches:

1. Create short-form content with as little fluff as possible
2. Use audio to convey ideas when possible
3. Focus on a single, highly specific topic for each post

Audio has been a big part of The Mentorship subscription so far. Probably more than 80% of posts are short-form audio podcasts. The rest are short-form text and video posts.

It’s intentionally created that way because I’m busy and so are my subscribers.

As a busy professional, I’m working when I’m at my desk—not consuming content (unless it’s a course).

If I have a minute to read someone’s content, it’s probably on my phone during a break. Which means I’m rarely reading long-form digital content unless it’s very specific and high quality.

In contrast, I have a lot more spare time away from the computer, such as on walks with my dog, driving, cleaning dishes, or while doing other chores.

I can’t work during these times, so I like to learn instead.

I don’t think I’m alone, so I’m betting on that in the way I produce content.

As a result, I’m optimizing for three things:

1. Busy people reading on their phones
2. Busy people who like to consume ideas via audio
3. Busy people who cherry pick specific topics with specific benefits

There’s no right or wrong way to create content. I’m just doing it this way because that’s what I want from content right now.

And since my target audience is generally people like me at earlier, similar, and future stages of their independent careers, my hope is that this bet with this approach pays off.

Long-form articles aren’t bad. There’s a place for them, to be sure. It’s great for SEO and content that requires nuance and detail.

But it’s just hard to get busy people (like you and me) to justify giving their time in the hopes they’ll get commensurate value.

Unfortunately, the value in many cases is smaller than the time investment to retrieve it.

I personally prefer a slow trickle. One specific idea after the next. Leading to a bigger whole.

After all, our minds can only take on so much at a time.

If you want people to read your writing, it helps to be enthusiastic about your topic. That’s where the magic is.

So, instead of picking from a list of topic ideas, I thought I’d share a few ideas with you that I’m enthusiastic about right now.

I hope to transfer some of that enthusiasm to you.

The first idea is to work in public.

I did not invent the idea of working in public, of course. It’s fairly “common” wisdom.

But if you’re like me, it never really sunk in. Or, like me, you didn’t really pay too much attention to the idea.

My marketing has typically been designed to convey authority. I’m paid to be an expert, after all.

But lately, I’ve been trying to turn that around as I create a side project called The Mentorship.

It’s a group hosted on Patreon to help independent marketing professionals sharpen their skills, level up their work, and create a more enjoyable business.

Anyway, the beauty of working on this project is two-fold:

1. I get to help people who are on a similar path
2. I get to explore and share my work as they are developed

Which brings me to my next idea: be a guide.

The benefit of the second part is I get to shift roles from being an authority to being a guide.

Frankly, I have nothing to prove to anyone. The proof is in the pudding in my own work. I certainly do well enough as a marketing advisor and educator.

And because of that, I feel like I have nothing to prove. I actually feel confident enough to let down the facade of authority and truly be a leader and a guide.

It’s much more fun this way. And we can all do this, even if we aren’t quite so confident yet.

To keep this short, I have three main ideas for you today:

1. Write about topics you’re enthusiastic about. It shows.
2. It’s okay to not have all the answers. Be a guide, not a wizard.
3. Show your work. In public. Your thought process. Even just a little bit.

Nobody expects you to have all the answers. They just want someone they can trust.

And there’s no better way to show people you’re trustworthy than by showing your work in progress and transferring enthusiasm for what you do.

Even if your target market isn’t people “like you”.

So I hope this encourages you to let down the expert facade just a little bit and pick up the torch as a leader and a guide.

Show your work in progress. Think out loud. Give people a preview of the work behind the scenes.

At first, it’s scary, but then it just feels right.

Yours,

—k

I’ve been mentoring independent marketers and creatives lately who are earlier in their careers than me and looking to level up.

Whether that means going from employee to freelancer, or freelancer to agency, or becoming a strategic advisor and educator, which is what I do.

They are somewhere along the Success Path of the Independent Professional. Like all of us, they’re hungry to learn and grow their independent businesses and careers.

After doing this for a few weeks, I’ve decided I want to scale it up and help more people on a similar path. But here’s the thing: I have been getting myself hung up on the technology.

I envision it being a mix of short posts, tools, templates, videos, a private podcast, and direct access to me for questions. It’s like having a mentor your pocket.

Choosing a platform for delivering your client experience

I’m a big believer in building on land you own and not relying on platforms for your income.

However, platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Google, Medium, Substack, and others can be a big advantage in growing an audience and a business. Especially when you’re starting out.

You can build audiences quicker on platforms where people already exist and drive them to an email list where you can actually own the relationship directly.

So here are some options I’ve been comparing: 

• A paid newsletter + private podcast subscription (independent)
• A private community built on something like Circle (platform)
• A Patreon group with bite-sized posts in various formats (platform)
• A Slack community with private content on the side (independent + platform)
• Or a hybrid of many of these ideas (independent + platform)

Whether you go independent, platform, or both, there’s always a trade-off.

Going fully independent (i.e. custom build using WordPress, membership plugin, podcast hosting, email tool, etc.) is harder to build and grow from scratch.

But you can fully customize it, you make the rules, and you completely own the experience.

Using a platform, on the other hand, is easier to get started with. But there’s more risk they could change the rules, and there is much less control over the experience.

You’re buying a turn-key experience that is fast to get started and good enough at the expense of control and customization.

There are three competing values at play in the decision: speed, independence, and experience.

On the one hand, I want to fully own the experience and control the rules. Independence is the only way to do things over the long-term.

But to do that, I’d need to work hard to create the level of experience I’d want. And the idea isn’t really fleshed out yet, let alone validated.

The experience of platforms like Circle, Patreon, and Slack are great. I could have them up and running tomorrow. Those tools make it turn-key to get started.

Patreon, for example, allows you to post content easily, they offer self-hosted private podcasts, an app that pushes out new content to members, and a whole lot more. As a consumer, the experience is great.

But they could all change their rules at any time.

So what is the right thing to do?

I’ve decided that speed and experience are the two factors most important factors in getting validation and momentum.

Once I have a proven idea and some momentum, I can worry about bringing things back “in-house” and investing into a custom experience that I own completely.

Here’s the plan:

1. I’m going to use Patreon to deliver member content and a private podcast
2. I’m going to use Slack to build community and have direct interactions
3. I’m going to eventually phase the business into something more permanent and independent on my own site once I have enough traction

Success is an interactive process. I could spend weeks and months building out an idea that may not even fly. That’s not smart.

The key with all new ideas is to validate, learn, adapt, and evolve as you go. You’ll never get it right the first time.

I hope this helps you if you’re in a similar predicament. There’s always a balance of speed, experience, and control that we need to figure out when choosing platforms for our work.

If you’d like to be an early member of the group, join here.

My son is seven months old. He can’t talk yet but he loves it when you sing familiar songs.

Whether it’s Twinkle Twinkle or or Patty Cake, he can go from crying to laughing in a matter of seconds.

That’s the power of familiarity.

As humans, we are naturally drawn to things we are familiar with. There’s a certain comfort in knowing something enough to become familiar with it.

As an independent marketer, your goal is to build that familiarity into your brand.

So how do we build familiarity with our audience?

The best way to build familiarity with your audience or target market is to be consistent.

There’s a few ways to do this:

• Communicate the same things consistently (i.e. sing the same songs)
• Show up regularly (sing the songs at least once a day)
• Show up often (i.e. sing the songs multiple times a day, every day)

The power in all of this is consistency, repetition, and frequency—which is easier said than done!

That’s why consistency is such a big pillar in any marketing strategy. Without it, you don’t build the familiarity required to keep a figurative smile on the face of your audience.

There’s a certain comfort in knowing what to expect. Our minds can’t handle too much uncertainty. We like closure.

What things should you communicate consistently?

The best way to communicate consistently is to maintain a stance on specific things. Something you feel strongly about.

Having a distinct point of view and talking about it from many different angles becomes your form of familiarity. Your flavour.

Those who agree with and relate to your point of view will keep following you. They will look forward to your deep exploration on a few topics they agree with, too.

So what do you feel strongly enough about that you can turn into your “themes”?

If you think back to your favourite bands, what did you like about them? What made you keep buying their albums over time?

I’d guess, it was their style. You liked their lyrics, instrumentals, and/or their unique persona.

And what about those bands that lost you along the way? Chances are, at least one of two things happened:

1. You outgrew their style
2. They changed their style

When we like something, we want as much of it as we can get.

When we feel strongly about something, such as a life goal or belief system, we kind of tie our identities to it. It becomes part of how we see ourselves. It says something about us.

So, we seek to validate our worldview. We want to reinforce our beliefs and we do that through repetition.

The repetition brings comfort. Like your favourite song or album from your teenage years, it feels good to know every nook and cranny of it.

We can’t get enough.

The thing about frequency and recency

We naturally trust things or people we see most recently or most frequently. That’s why politicians try to drown out the airwaves with their messaging.

That’s why they pick one or two phrases and say them until they are blue in the face.

The more often we see things, people, ideas, and brands, the more likely we are to trust them. It’s a bias we all have.

So, in order to build in familiarity and create trust with your audience or target market, you have to be consistent and show up frequently. We need to do it in a way that aligns with their beliefs and identity, too.

This is key.

Yes, it helps to be authentic and transparent. It also helps to blend in your story and unique personality.

But the thing that drives the most familiarity is repetition, consistency, and frequency.

So what do you stand for? What ideas can you own? What aspirations do you share with your audience/target market? What can you repeat consistently until you’re blue in the face?

Try it out. Go deep on a few big topics. See what resonates.

Once you find your unique flavour, stick to it. Evolve it if you need to, but do so conservatively. It’s repetition that matters. People stick to a unique flavour they like.

Be everyone’s favourite nostalgic rock band. Keep singing your songs.

—k

P.S. I asked Twitter what their best writing tips were yesterday. There were lots of great replies. Check it out and say hi to me while you’re there!

When you get busy, the easiest thing to drop off your schedule is self-promotion.

And yet, self-promotion is the only way you have a business.

It’s like watering a plant; you can forget to do it for a while, but eventually, the plant will die. When you stop self-promoting, your business starts dying, too.

Everything you do means you have decided NOT to do something else. Whether you realize it or not.

You don’t have unlimited time, resources, and energy. You can’t be all things to all people. You have to make choices and trade-offs.

And one of the choices you need to make as an independent professional is to show up every single day.

That’s right, every day. Not every-so-often. Every day.

I heard Dan Kennedy say that you’re not in the business of whatever it is you do. You’re in the business of getting clients.

I’m paraphrasing, but that stuck with me.

I realized that delivering good work was table stakes (still important). But it wouldn’t be possible if you weren’t able to keep getting new clients.

So, what if you’re too busy to keep marketing yourself?

• It might be time to raise your rates
• It might be time to redesign your services
• It might be time to start productizing your expertise

Business is an iterative game.

I spoke last week about how I went from hobbyist to employee to freelancer, to consultant, advisor, educator, and so on over the course of nearly 20 years.

When I got too busy as a freelancer, I hired sub-contractors. Leverage.

When I got busy as an agency owner, I stopped marking up other people’s time and starting selling marketing strategy, management, and oversight as a fractional chief marketing officer. 100% margins.

When I got busy as a fractional CMO, I removed project management from my scope and started selling purely consulting and advisory services. More time back.

Now I also sell info products and a membership program for my niche consultancy, which is further helping me stop trading time for money. I’m creating an asset I can sell repeatedly.

Bringing it home

Whenever you do—don’t stop marketing yourself. ​​It will be tempting. You will be tired. You won’t feel like showing up. But do it anyway. Every day.

Your job is to create opportunity for yourself. You must keep showing up. Again and again and again.

I recently invested in a Buffer account to help me schedule some posts and keep my content going.

I also write two newsletters, do group coaching, and run a membership in addition to private consulting and workshops. I’m busy.

But I make no excuses. I keep showing up.

So if your goal is to remain independent, you have to keep iterating your business model, freeing up more time, and investing everything you can BACK into your marketing to ALLOW you to keep levelling up.

Otherwise, you’ll stay at the level you’re at—trading time for money. Never fully realizing the upside that you could have.

Make the trade-off to invest in your marketing, even if it comes at short-term cost.

​Otherwise, the trade-off will be made for you in the form of fewer opportunities.