A Lack of Structure

Launching an owned media channel is extremely exciting.

It’s an opportunity to consistently demonstrate your expertise, build relationships with your ideal customers, and control the context in which you are seen.

But, despite all the positives, that excitement can quickly dissipate.

The releases become less frequent.

And then they stop entirely.

Because the challenge isn’t in writing a newsletter or recording a podcast episode a few times; it’s in what comes afterwards, when the time commitment and difficulty become more obvious - and you can increasingly justify not wanting to continue, based on those or any number of reasons.

This might happen because you’re risk averse - because success isn’t immediate enough, overwhelming enough, or doesn’t match your perception of what it should be - but the more likely culprit is a lack of structure.

The goal of a structure is to create momentum before you start working on material by removing as much resistance as you can - because the easier it is for you to create, the more you’ll want to continue doing so.

A structure doesn’t need to be complicated, either; you can build one by asking yourself what you want to create, and when you want to create it.

For example, what topic are you covering in a specific piece of material? What customer problem are you answering, or what insight do you want to expand on? Are there any stories, quotes, or data that you could use to illustrate that topic, or use as examples to reinforce your viewpoint?

When are you setting aside the time to write, record, or edit? Is there a specific time of day when there are unlikely to be competing priorities, but where you’re confident you can be productive? Is there a specific point in your week where you know you’re not as likely to get much client work done, but where you could accomplish something for yourself?

So, when you need to create material, you’ll know exactly what you want to communicate, and you’ll have set aside the time to be able to do so.

Because the more you can do in advance, the less risk there is of falling behind - and the less you fall behind, the less you'll be able to justify stopping.