Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.
The problem with Gary Vee
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Hi Reader, I changed my content strategy a few months ago. I stopped publishing and writing dozens of blog posts each week with the help of a team of writers. I let some of my editorial team go. I started publishing more content on social media. Now, I write and send a daily newsletter. I also work with a select group of clients. My new business model is straightforward. I spent half an hour writing emails like this one. I spend 90 minutes a month planning social media content. And I pitch a few clients each day. But, I overcomplicated my strategy for weeks. I blame Gary Vee. I watched a few of his videos, where he recommends posting on 7 different platforms 6–7 times a day! Facebook memes, shorts and reels, long-form X posts, LinkedIn status updates, pins to the latest blog posts, YouTube videos, daily stories… I’m exhausted typing that. Gary’s publishing cadence is admirable. I tried his content strategy for a few weeks. Then, I crashed and burned. I love Gary Vee’s motivational content. But, he’s a full-time team dedicated to creating and repurposing his content across his blog, Facebook, Pinterest, Medium, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Threads… A videographer even follows Gary around for the day and turns most of his meetings, talks, and speeches into content. He also has raving online followers who take care of distribution for him. It’s impossible to create and post that much content each day without it becoming a full-time job. The rest of us don’t work with a full-time content team. We don’t document every part of the working day because it would make a great short or reel. And our ideal readers and clients aren’t on all those social media networks. What busy CEO ever said… “I need to hire a copywriter, so I’m going to doomscroll TikTok for an hour”!? The Pro Writers I work with manage their time. They value getting paid over a dopamine feed of views, likes, and shares. They create content strategically for one or perhaps two select networks. They publish content that attracts the right types of readers and clients. Then, they pitch their services. That’s how they get paid without burning out. I want to help Pro Writers get off the content hamster wheel. So, I’m hosting a live workshop in a few days on this exact topic: Plan a Month of Content In 90 Minutes. You’ll walk away with plenty of time each week to write, find clients, and grow your writing business. Write on, |
Letters From the Desk of Bryan Collins
Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.
For a few years, I paid an editor a few hundred dollars a month to edit my content. When she left for another job, I didn’t hire anyone else. Instead, I started using Claude, and it only costs me $20 a month. That’s a 93% saving, and it’s a lot faster than going backward and forward on Google Docs. Here’s an example of how my AI+human content process works: I spent 15–30 minutes writing a daily email like this one every morning, usually working on a personal story or an angle. After finishing...
Even though I’ve spent years writing online, I woke up this morning and couldn’t think of anything to bash into my MacBook after the kids went to school. And I’d only have half an hour to write this email as I’ve got a call with a client later today. I’ve a near-mortal fear of the flashing cursor or a blank screen. So, I avoided this problem with the Post-It note strategy for a few years. Here’s how it works. Before bed, I write down a single idea on a Post-It like “write 300 words about...
I tested Google Gemini’s content creation capabilities. I wanted to see how it stacks up against ChatGPT and Claude for creating business copy. Google Gemini offers two interesting “gems” (think custom GPTs) for content creators: Copy Creator and Writing Editor. Copy Creator helps write taglines, mission statements, and social media posts. Writing Editor focuses on fixing grammar and improving content structure. I put both through their paces using content from my daily newsletter. When I fed...