I’ve been talking myself out of publishing a lot recently.
Usually, I’m a “let it rip” type of person. Get the idea out of my head, give it reasonable polish, ship it, and move on.
And for the most part, this approach has worked just fine!
It’s what’s helped me build a waiting list of clients, attract speaking opportunities, be invited to guest on podcasts‚ and frankly, to stay in business for nearly a decade so far.
Lately, though, I’ve been recording Audiologs for the membership but not sharing them, writing emails like these but not sending them, and even recording videos for YouTube but not finishing them.
I’ve been accused of a lot of things but lacking confidence is not one of them. So what’s going on?
It largely comes down to momentum.
I’ve been busy lately. This year has been busy.
And with that, I can dedicate less time to my content production.
But that hasn’t stopped me in the past, so why now?
I honestly think it comes down to momentum. If you skip publishing for a day, it’s easier to do the same tomorrow.
And if you miss a week, it’s very easy to skip the next week.
The more you publish, the better you’ll get at coming up with and sharing new ideas.
I don’t care how much of a perfectionist you are, if you don’t publish regularly, your published work won’t be great.
But the more you ship your ideas, the more new ideas flow to you and the easier they will be to explain and build upon.
It’s ironic, but I see a lot of marketers struggling to create content for themselves. I hear things like “too busy on client work!” or “I suck at writing/video/insert your thing here”.
Everybody is busy. And everybody “sucks” when they don’t do something long enough.
If you want to be in business for the next decade, publishing is one of the most critical skills to develop and maintain.
It can be the difference between being reasonably paid or paid like a dentist. Or worse, getting a J.O.B.
But it takes momentum to keep things going, and when you get off the horse, it will be hard to get back on again.
Once you know this truth, you can get over yourself and start publishing.
You can get back on that horse, put your ideas out there, and open the taps to better ideas that compound over time.
Open the floodgates.
—kevin
P.S. I’m closing the doors for the How to Sell Advice membership next week. If you want to hop in, do it now because things might look a little different again when I reopen the doors (hint: not cheaper). Consider this your heads up!