Life’s been pretty dull the past few months, thanks to COVID and the lockdowns that ensued, and I’ve been craving for a new challenge. This past week I reflected on the things that are going well and the things that can improve, only to realise that there’s this huge void in my life that I need to address — a creative outlet.
And it seems that the blog isn’t enough. I need to supplement it with something more challenging. Of course, taking out time for my existing creative endeavors — writing daily posts; researching, developing, and delivering mastermind programs; developing that book idea I’ve been working on for the past year; and growing my micro coaching and consulting business — has been a massive time commitment but nothing fulfills me more than having created something that’s bigger than me.
That’s one solid reason why I show up here every single day without fail. I love having written something that was on the top of my mind. Not just for me to come back and reflect on it, though I often do that, but for the world to see a work-in-progress. And everyone loves a great story, don’t they? Don’t you?
But there comes a point when we need to think beyond a single discipline. I started the blog as an extension of my own thoughts. A platform where I can fearlessly (shamelessly, rather) write about my thoughts, reflections, and document my challenges as an up-and-coming entrepreneur and a world-class professional. It has done a great job so far. But there’s only so much I can grow if all I do is show up here every day.
Also, I’m comfortable with the blog and that scares me a bit. I don’t want to “settle-down” on just one medium and call it a day. I have to embrace the suck and go to the other platforms that make me super-uncomfortable while providing me with a better reach. That’s the only way I can keep growing and take my business to a much higher elevation.
That might I may have to let go of one of my other projects (maybe the book project, since I really don’t feel like writing it, at least not now) due to time commitments. I’m okay with that. And what I really should be doing right now is to bring back my podcast. Not that it was dead or something but I haven’t broached it since December last year. And I don’t want to be part of my history when it’s time is right now.
This time, however, I plan to go the extra mile — record interviews and solo (basically rants and/or training programs, mostly the latter) episodes that offer immense value to my audience on video. Create a YouTube channel and put everything online. For the podcast, I simply will strip off the audio and upload to my podcast network.
That’s it! The idea remains to offer immense value to the viewers/listeners/subscribers while getting better at presenting and creating content for a hungry audience that wants to develop themselves into better leaders.
Of course, all of this will add to the production time and given my schedule, this may take a toll on my timelines but that’s okay. I’m hoping editing videos to be a lot simpler than editing audio, thanks to the visual cues, but if that’s not the case my only option is to get better. Period. I can’t run away from this.
What’s the worst that could happen from all this?
- I can waste a lot of time creating content that nobody consumes.
- I could be developing my business while I’m busy “creating content” for others.
- My subscribers could get addicted to all the invaluable content that I put out for free and refuse to pay money for the “premium” stuff.
If that’s making you nervous, well, don’t be. I’m quite okay with the above possibilities. Think of it from the mindset of a creative — if it doesn’t sell, it’s part of the portfolio. People don’t have to buy it, just appreciate it enough to give you an opportunity. That’s how businesses have been built all along. This just happens to be an alternative approach for the times we are in.