[Transcript starts at 0:40]
Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people. And thank you for joining me for yet another episode of I Need a Haircut. No, I do, but another episode of my favorite online business podcast.
If you are listening, watching, tuning in on the day that it drops, it is Monday, September 28th, yet another month has flown by, here we are. So I got no real biz updates. Um, I've been DIYing it up a storm.
Now, if you follow me on the Instagram, would love that. Uh, but if you follow me over there, then you've seen it. I've posted, I had to post them in my stories.
Um, but I spent all day, I guess it would be last weekend. The time that this attendance comes out, it'll be all day last weekend, all last Sunday, um, re-caulking the tub in the bathroom, one of our bathrooms. Very fortunate.
We have two and a half baths here. Lex has a shower, so do I. Um, and I started using the one in which it's the guest shower, because I don't like the fancy shower that we have in our, you know, primary bedroom, the primary suites, uh, it has a rain shower. Fucking hate that.
Like why, why do they invent that thing? Uh, but either way I use the other bathroom. Um, it has some really nice natural light as well. Um, but our, her parents are coming to stay with us.
It is, like I said before, the guest bathroom and my aunt and uncle are coming in a few weeks and I was looking at the shower and I'm like, this isn't really gross for me, it's like medium gross. Actually. So if it's medium gross for me, it's going to be definitely gross for people who shower it isn't.
So let me fix this tub and take this old caulk out and, uh, put some new stuff in. Um, that was my first time re-caulking a tub, especially with a tile like that. Um, my back is broken.
No, it's not. My hamstrings are really sore. I always get like that, you know, sustained isometric contraction there.
Um, but the tub looks so much better. It's not the best, but it's not the worst and it's done. So I'm gonna count it as a win.
Rupert did fall in as well. I was downstairs, uh, and Musa and I heard the noise, Lex didn't hear it, but I was like, what the fuck was that? And I couldn't figure out what it was. And then I go upstairs a few minutes later and Rupert's in the hallway, just licking his legs.
And I'm like, why are you so wet? And she, the whole bathroom is all wet. And I was like, this guy got nosy. Uh, for those of you don't know, when you go to caulk a tub, you should fill the bathtub because it allows the tub to like depress because water is very heavy.
Um, and so it's going to separate it from the wall. And this way you want to caulk it when it's at its max separation. If you don't, you caulk it when it's at its minimal separation.
Then when you put water in, it can separate. Um, so there was water in it and there was a Rupert in it, but, uh, you know, I shared, I shared this with the mafia as well, but these DIY tasks, they are just so good for my brain because there's closure and it's done so much of the work that I do and possibly, probably you listening to this, watching this. It never really ends, right? Both in terms of how I help people and, you know, coach people, but also my own content creation, right? It's creative.
So it's open-ended. It's, there's always something else to be thinking about, thinking about the next thing with it. Um, you know, just so much, it's just, it doesn't end regarding, regarding it.
Um, so these DIY projects are really, really nice because when they're done, they're done, which is a great segue for today's main topic, which is what happens when your brain is done, right? But your work isn't, um, in this case, specifically talking about, you know, what to do if you run out of things to talk about, so this episode largely inspired by my other podcast, Prompting Curiosity, where I have 60 something episodes, but when I hit around like episode 40, I was like, I don't really have anything to talk about now on this podcast, this is episode 736 of Maestro on the Mic, so clearly I don't have the same kind of creation constipation for this podcast, but there have definitely been times when it came time to outline an episode and I was like, I got nothing, I got cotton in my head. So what do you do? What do I do? Um, worth noting with this episode, we're going to talk about, uh, you know, what we're, what we're going to talk about, I should say applies to any kind of content creation, right? So I said, you know, what to do if you run out of things to say, but this can apply to a podcast, that's the example I'm using right now, but you know, it's content creation in general, whether it's social media, um, your posts, your newsletter, videos, whatever, right? So that, that out of the way, right? We're applying this talk to everything. Um, before you start any kind of content creation endeavor, make sure that it has enough things to talk about.
I Jill just started a sub stack and I was talking to her about it and she was like, yeah, you know, I sat down to think about this and she was like, I already had like a hundred topics that I knew I could write on before I decided I was going to start it and it's like, yes, right. Don't start something and just be like, oh, I'm excited about it. I'm gonna start it.
And you're like, actually, I only have three things to say about it. So for me with, with prompting curiosity at the rate that AI was advancing and with how little I knew at the time, it started a year ago, like last August. Um, I definitely thought that I'd be good for a good while.
And I was good for close to a year. Um, but you know, the advances aren't advancing in the same kind of way. And it's like, all right, I've learned it.
And I have a solution, which is to talk about the same things again. Um, but all that to say, make sure that you have enough stuff to talk about before you start a new endeavor. I realized that this isn't helpful.
I think that point isn't helpful if you've already started, but I'm sure that I have folks at different stages in the audience. So I'm speaking to everybody here. Right.
But for those of you who have already started talking and now you've run out of things to talk about, the first and the biggest action item is to ask yourself, why have you run out of things to talk about? Is it that you're bored with what you've been talking about? Is it, you already said it once and you're like, well, I've already said it. Are you annoyed that you have to say it more than once? Right. Do you think that it's already been said? Everyone's talking about it.
What do I have to say? Do you think that it's not interesting enough? That's a big one on social media that I see. Are you just not interested in talking about it anymore? Do you feel that it's trivial with everything that's going on in the world and everything's going on in the United States? Does it not fit the format that you like? Is it that no one is engaging with it? So you don't want to share anything or are you just over it? Right. Sussing out why you feel like you have nothing to say is really important.
I'm going to tell you to do it anyway. I'm going to tell you to post anyway. I'm going to tell you to create content anyway.
But how you create that content and what you're thinking about will change with the exception of you just being over it. Right. If you're truly like, fuck this.
I don't have anything to say because I hate this and it's not me anymore. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Please stop talking about that thing.
Stop. Pivot. Do something else.
Life is too short to be doing shit that you hate. Right. Understand though that an abrupt change likely won't be met with everyone just pivoting with you, but your happiness is worth it.
Right. If you can plan it out and have it be a little bit more gradual dope, that's what I did with, you know, moving from the movement stuff to the business stuff. But if you're like, I just can't do it anymore, then stop for the rest of you.
Right. Most often what I see in myself included is that you can feel like you've run out of things to talk about primarily because you're not excited to talk about those things anymore. Right.
All of those things I listed out before, they pretty much all fall into that category, right. Of just not being excited about it. And I do have a few, a few, I almost said exceptions.
I do have a few suggestions. Right. So first off, take a pause.
Right. Take a pause from the content creation and saying things, but keep, I'm going to suggest that you keep your easiest or your most meaningful content creation medium going. Mainly because of this, if you are doing this as a business, it's nice to just have some point of contact and with people.
But if you're like, man, I'm just too truly like burned out on this, then take a full break. Right. But keeping your, your most meaningful content creation medium going does presuppose that you have multiple mediums that you're creating on.
Right. Which for my intermediate to advanced business owners, I would really like to see that. And I expect that by your social media, email podcasts.
For me, I pulled back on social media for quite a bit, but I kept that email going and I kept both podcasts going. All right. Good.
So I ran into the next suggestion, which is if you only have one medium that you're creating on, consider creating a new one. Right. You can share the same type of content, but you're sharing it in a new way.
Right. I'm currently working on this with a very, very advanced business owner, and she's moving into YouTube long form content. Right.
I do think that YouTube long form is for many people, like one of the later moves that they do, because it is a lift, but definitely for someone that's been in the game for a long time, you've been saying the same things. And like, you know, that you have to keep saying those same things, going into a new medium and challenging yourself that way and getting excited about, you know, sharing in that way. And, and especially if you go into a platform that gives you a little bit more space for nuance, like that can actually, you know, definitely make you excited again to, to, to say things.
Next one, buy time for that excitement to return. Seasonality is very real and evolution doesn't need to look like a complete reinvention or a complete overhaul. Re-share old things, share old things that you never shared.
Right. There is so much value in recording everything and just keeping it. All right.
I am probably going to go back to posting podcast clips. I have so many pod, I have 700 something podcast episodes. I know, I think I started video around 300, something like that.
400 maybe. Um, I have so many that I didn't share publicly, right. Those clips from I'm saying, I shared the episode, but I didn't put any clips on social media because I didn't want to do it at the time I started doing it.
And then I was just like, everyone is doing this. It's like saturated. I don't like this.
Um, and now if it's like a golden light, cause people aren't doing it anymore. So, you know, share old things that you haven't shared before. Repurpose old content.
I'm not the best at doing that, but that is a very viable way to just be okay. I had to have this stuff. I'm going to reshare it exactly the same.
Or I'm going to share something I didn't share before. I'm going to repurpose something old until I buy time to, you know, that I feel excited again. Right.
The big theme here though, it's going to be like letting it be good enough. So many times done is better than perfect. Most of the time it's better than perfect.
And people will stop themselves. It was like, Oh, it's not the best. Not like as good as it used to be.
There's something to be said about momentum and just keeping that going until the excitement comes back until you're like, Oh, actually like here's something popped up. Um, I'm just in a different place. The weather has changed, whatever.
And you have that excitement and you're like, Oh, I guess I'm going to say. All right. I am worth noting.
I am not a big fan of asking your audience because if you get crickets, then you're even less motivated to create content. So I typically don't default to that, but if you want to, you can. Um, next one is share different types of content.
So sometimes folks are not excited about sharing their content. They feel like they have nothing to say because the algorithm has stolen their creativity, right? You know, I said before the algorithm rewards posting the same exact type of shit. I've told you ignore the numbers because then you'll, then you will be more likely to share different types of shit.
Um, but big thing here for, for generating some excitement is posting what you want to be posting, right? Sometimes that looks like more life stuff. Um, sometimes that just looks like a different format. I'm thinking about folks that really love horizontal video and they're like more storytellers.
So they're like kind of YouTube stuff. And they're just like, Instagram wants vertical video. Instagram wants shorter video.
And it's just like, that's what's killing their creativity. That's what's making them feel like they have nothing to say. It's like, share what you want to be sharing.
Say what you want to be saying as it relates to applause. Cause that can be a reason that people are like, I have nothing to say. Cause no one's hearing it anyway.
Remember, I want you to share things because you have something to say, not because you need someone to hear it. So if the only way that you'll keep going is if you get applause, then you are going to stop. And there are no like mental tricks or content hacks to change that.
The driving factor for content creation in that case needs to change, right? I get it. You know, there's a good chance you're doing this as part of a business. And so you've got bills to pay.
My suggestion is that if the financial ROI really isn't there, get another job that allows you to create and not need this to work. So I have two content creators right in my mind right now, Hallease and Francesca, and they're doing this, right? They went and got jobs and they're just like the stress of this stuff, having to make money and having to pander a bit and cater to the algorithm made me feel like I didn't want to do it anymore. I didn't have anything to say.
And suddenly they changed that. They reduced that weight by having income from a job and they're creating again. All right.
So lastly, as it relates to the list, if you are not wanting to share things because of the bigger issues in the world, one, this is different than not having anything to say, but solution still either way is to do both, right? Your misery will not change anything. You not saying anything at all about anything will not change anything, will not help anyone. So my suggestion is to use your voice, to talk about the topics that matter to you and to talk about your business, right? So last thing I want to get techie for a second.
That's my new favorite phrase is I have started posting my quotes again. I used to post my daily maestro isms. There's just written things and I've gone back to that and I enjoy doing that.
So one of the things that I'm doing is I'm trying to think of a quote all the time is I had Claude go into Descript to use the MCP, the connector there. And I had to go through all of my transcripts and pull quotes that I could use. I had it first, I had Claude first look at my most recent posts on Instagram to see the quotes that I had already pulled.
So we got a feel for what I was looking for. And then I had it go and pull from Descript. So if you want to learn more about that stuff, the AI side of stuff, check out that other podcast that I'm doing, prompting curiosity, link it in the show notes.
Thank you, Courtney. Thank you Jojo. But that's all for today.
I know I spoke quickly. I'm just like, yeah, let's get this thing done. Let's get some ideas out there.
So, yeah, those are my thoughts. On what to do if you feel like you've run out of things to say, right? What to say, what to do if you feel like you've run out of things. All right.
That is all I got for you as always. Endlessly, endlessly. One more time.
Endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
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