by David Andrew Wiebe | May 27, 2023 | Entrepreneurship
In creating content, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds without ever finding your path.
Here’s the surprising truth no one tells you about content…
It’s Not About the Type of Content
We are often led to believe that content is, first and foremost, about the type of content you produce.
Blog posts, infographics, podcasts, videos. Pick one.
Picking one and sticking to it is good advice. Choosing one that’s matched to your preferences is even better. Even with a team, it can be very difficult to publish blog posts and make videos, as an example.
But you will not automatically be more successful because you publish a certain type of content…
It’s Not About the Platform
Secondly, we are told, publishing is about finding the right platform to publish to.
Facebook. Instagram. YouTube.
All things being equal, it’s a good idea to go where your audience is. And there is no mistaking that you’ve got to tailor the right kind of content to the platform you’re publishing to.
But publishing in the right place will not guarantee success. If you’re delivering the right kind of content, people will come to you.
It’s Not About When You Publish
Having figured out what type of content we want to publish and where to publish it, we start looking at when to publish it.
It’s funny because it’s mostly replacing one obsession with another.
Emails should go out between 9 AM and 12 PM EST on a Thursday. Facebook posts should be published between 8 AM and 12 PM EST on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Or whatever it is.
Look, you can find this information anywhere, and nowadays Facebook will even help you schedule your posts at a time they are more likely to be seen.
It doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as you think it does, though, because people will still tune into their favorite show at 1:00 AM on Monday if it’s the only opportunity to catch it.
The Surprising Truth – It’s About the Personality
Personality, or what marketer Russell Brunson calls a certain “attractive character” in his book, DotCom Secrets, is what creating content is all about. This is a foundation on which you can build.
People will still occasionally stumble across your content if it’s valuable and optimized, but if there’s no personality in it, it’s unlikely you will be remembered and be able to get people on your list and create long-term engagement with them.
Think about it. Oprah can draw an audience and sell to them any time she wants. You can probably think of plenty of others – Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, Howard Stern, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, or otherwise.
If you were to pay attention to your own consumption habits, you’d notice that large chunks of it are based on people you know, like, and trust too.
So, what personality will you establish?
by David Andrew Wiebe | May 17, 2023 | Entrepreneurship
As you know, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with high performers, successful executives, influential coaches, and music entrepreneurs of a variety of persuasions.
Some of these are my friends. We may only speak once or twice per year, but picking up where we left off often feels effortless. I’m grateful for all the connections I’ve built over the years.
Recently, one of my friends launched a new community, and I couldn’t resist sharing it with you.
As you know, I do talk about an array of products (I’m certainly not shy in sharing mine) but only rarely if ever refer you to timely opportunities. It happens once every few years, or not at all.
But what I’m about to share with you is worthy of your attention.
Have you ever noticed how the first movers are often the ones that benefit most from new platforms? It could be Kickstarter, Snapchat, or TikTok. The people who put in the time necessary to figure it out and understand the opportunity are inevitably the ones that squeeze the most juice out of it.
We’re sitting on the cusp of one such ground-floor opportunity again.
What’s unique about it is that it brings together the domains of learning, networking, and affiliate marketing. No one else is doing anything like this right now. And there are AMAZING opportunities for learners, coaches, influencers, affiliate marketers, and hybrids alike!
Now, I can’t tell you whether this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. If you’ve been struggling to make ends meet, though, I would assert that it is. Either way, there is an easy way to find out.
Watch This Video Now
Then, get back to me when you’re ready to join.
by David Andrew Wiebe | May 15, 2023 | Entrepreneurship
There will be things that seem far too tedious and obnoxious to do. That is until you realize they are categorically essential to your success.
All things being equal, it’s better to have spent your 20s and 30s experimenting and learning. You will want your ultimate success in your 20s and 30s, but you probably won’t get it until later.
But if you’ve prepared yourself well for your 40s, you will have uncovered, assimilated, and synthesized the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve your goals. You will have experience as a feedback mechanism – to discern what will work and what won’t.
Getting a running start in your 40s without having spent your 20s and 30s learning will be challenging, to say the least.
For better or for worse, there will probably be things you won’t see until you’re 40. Things like the importance of a sales tracker or content calendar.
You’ll have heard of all these things, no doubt. Maybe you’ll have even acted on some of the information you’ve gathered.
But don’t expect to grasp the importance of any of it in your 20s and 30s and to be able to implement it with any degree of competence. Again, it will occur as tedious, obnoxious, and even unnecessary earlier in life.
Patience isn’t easy, and neither is sticking with something long past the point where you’ve lost all faith.
But if you can accept that it may not happen for you until you’re 40, you can spend your 20s and 30s productively, discovering what’s required to be a success later in life.
by David Andrew Wiebe | Apr 9, 2023 | Entrepreneurship
I don’t think I’ve seen it work yet.
No matter how organized or well monitored, somehow, someway, it ends up deteriorating into a one-way pitch fest.
Etiquette goes right out the window as people flood the chats with their contact information, social media profiles, and website links. As though everyone else should be rapt with interest.
Those who cannot powerfully articulate their message in one to two minutes are overlooked, ignored, and written off as irrelevant.
It’s a good reason to come prepared, yes, but we’ve all delivered messages that have fallen flat. Your message won’t land every time.
The only ones who win in online networking are the loudest and most obnoxious. And I’m not entirely sure they’re winning either.
I thought this would depend on the group, but today I observed some of the most evolved leaders I know treat the session like a mid-90s GeoCities chatroom, just as I’ve seen other entrepreneurs and executives do.
These are, I’m sure, the same people who do “networking hit and runs” at every in-person event, awkwardly and haphazardly throwing business cards at attendees as if to get away from those nasty germs as quickly as possible.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. The bar is still very low when it comes to networking and pitching. And I would even posit it’s at an all time low.
Connecting, not broadcasting, ought to be the intention of every networking event.
Those who use it as an opportunity to assert their self-importance are missing the point. The point is to listen and share generously. Offer support. Connect people who need to meet. Point them in the direction of helpful resources. Not show people how great you are.
Ironically, being a space for listening and offering support will end up elevating your status. Serving will lead to tangible networking results, not talking endlessly about how you’re the best.
Online networking doesn’t work. And while I hate the terminology, “virtual networking,” in this instance, hits the nail on the head. You may as well be interacting with a video game. No one is there to earn your trust before hitting you over the head with a sales pitch.
I’m going to say one more thing I hate and then I’m done. When it comes to networking, we could all learn a thing or two from politicians. They are expert networkers who have it as their job to memorize the names and professions of the people they meet, so if they ever run into them again, they can make them feel important. That’s not something you can do without having real empathy for people.
by David Andrew Wiebe | Apr 7, 2023 | Entrepreneurship
All businesses start with an intention.
Unfortunately, you can’t undo an intention once it has been set in motion.
And over the course of months and years, layers are added on top.
If your business is not going how, you thought it would, it’s because there’s no alignment between the intention you originally set, and the intention you hold now.
Which isn’t to say your current intention is wrong. It is almost certainly an expanded view of your original intention.
But to change the intention of the business after the fact, you’d need to rip up the foundations. And that’s easier said than done. It would almost be easier to start from scratch.
Be mindful of the intention you set. People often choose vague, ambiguous, murky intentions for their businesses and are later disappointed that it’s not doing what they hoped it would.
“Helping single moms” is usually too vague. You will help single moms, often at your own expense.
“Helping single moms while contributing and receiving value.” Better, though not perfect. You will help single moms, and value will be exchanged, but your resources will appear to disappear quickly, especially without a clear strategy. You’ll also end up helping in a variety of ways you never planned for.
Keep homing in on an intention that matches the outcome you want to create.
by David Andrew Wiebe | Apr 4, 2023 | Entrepreneurship
People don’t value it.
When called upon for help, I often respond anyway, knowing full well most will never return to support my work.
I have a passion for helping people, and have created countless free resources, on this blog alone, offering solutions to an array of life challenges.
But it will be the rare individual who takes things to heart and acts on them.
Selling infoproducts is the compassionate choice. Engagement isn’t guaranteed when people pay for content. But all things being equal, it will have people taking the information more seriously.
Lives will be transformed on the other side of a transaction. Not on this side.
