FF #010: Are You Making These 3 Mistakes With Your Content?

I was going through my YouTube "Watch Later" playlist yesterday...

Tell me if you notice anything from some of them:

"3 mistakes you're making when driving the golf ball."

"These 5 common BJJ mistakes are hurting your progression."

"Biggest mistake in your 20s that will make you poor in your 30s."

See any commonalities?

They all have the word "mistakes" in there.

So today I ask you...

Are You Making These 3 Mistakes With Your Content?

I seek out people who've done what I want to do, learn their mistakes, and how to avoid them.

It's one of the best ways to learn because it saves you from falling into the same time/money/energy traps those before you did.

So that's what we're jammin about today.

3 content mistakes you might be making with your content... and how to fix it.

Let's roll.

Mistake #1: Parrot Syndrome

How many times have you seen sayings like these:

• Follow your passion and the money will come (wrong. solve a problem and people will pay you)
• Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life (do what you love if it makes you a living)
• If you want to be rich stop trading your time for money (everyone starts off trading time for money)
• Want people to follow you? Provide value (next person who says this I’m gonna provide my foot up their arse)
• You should always treat people with kindness (yes - unless they give me a reason not to. I call it “being a mirror”)
• Drink water. Walk outside. Have a morning routine. Exercise. (gee thanks for the sage wisdom Captain Obvious)

This is what most people do.

Just repeat the same old shid from those cringey motivational quote pages.

I call it “Parrot Syndrome” because everyone just parrots whatever they see/hear.

No personality. No originality. No new ideas. Boring. Predictable.

Which is why I added my own non-parrot commentary above haha.

So what should you do different?

Find what’s new, different, unique, or exciting about what you do and share it.

When everyone goes left, you go right.

It could be as simple as a way of thinking. A way of doing something. A new insight that goes against the norm. Or a personal experience.

Here’s an example:

The norm is to make big claims and pitch more if you want to sell your stuff.

The new insight from Ben Settle is to “create a vision” instead.

I add a short tidbit on how you can create visions of heaven and hell.

This tweet started some great conversations in the comments on how to use visions to sell.

And it happened because I brought something new to the table instead of parroting what everyone else says.

Quick important note…

Notice how I gave credit to Ben Settle for where I originally heard the concept?

This is IMPORTANT.

Don’t be the idiot who rips people’s content and passes it off as your own.

You’ll be snuffed out and word travels fast. So don’t do it.

Alrighty let’s move onto #2…

Mistake #2: Using Lecturing Parent tone.

One of my high school friends B… still one of my best friends today… was the guy who unapologetically spoke his mind and told it like it is.

The “tough love” guy.

If I was being an idiot he’d tell me, “stop being a fkn idiot bro. Shape up.”

If I was being a crybaby he’d tell me to shaddap and quit complaining.

If I was being lazy he’d tell me to get off my arse and do something.

But he was the ONLY person who could talk to me and our other friends like that.

If my parents talked to me like that I’d get irritated and wouldn’t listen.

Because it feels like lecturing.

“Stop doing this. Stop being lazy. Don’t do that, do this instead. If you’re doing it this way you’re dumb.”

Unless you’re someone like my friend B. Or like the legends Ben Settle and Chris Orzechowski who are v skilled at writing this way…

It does NOT work.

People hate being lectured.

It makes them defensive so they can’t hear your message.

It may even annoy or piss them off enough to go bad mouth you and tell others not to follow you.

(Speaking from personal experience btw lol.)

So what do you do?

Use your experience and stories to show… instead of lecture and tell.

Example:

I could’ve just said “Stop trying to follow billionaires by spending your whole day reading books. Take action!”

Instead - I gave a personal example of seeing people over a year later stuck on square one because they’re not taking action.

Can you see why that would work better?

OK onto mistake #3…

Mistake #3: Too much throat clearing.

Did you know the average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds?

And did you know the average attention span of a human in 2022 is 8 seconds… so less than a goldfish?

Man, our attention sucks.

I honestly think 8 seconds is being generous too.

But I’m here to show you what to do about it.

One of the biggest mistakes I see in content… especially those who write longer form content… is too much “throat clearing”.

They take FOREVER to get to the point.

Your first line should be a hook to get the reader to want to keep reading.

It could be a clear and desirable benefit, a present pain they’re suffering from, a contrarian take, a question, the middle of an interesting story, or something that raises curiosity.

The main thing is it should be relevant to your ideal reader.

You’ve got 1-2 seconds to hook them with your first line before they’re gone.

Here’s a few examples…

Someone reads “shed a tear” and is curious about what.

They go on to read the screenshot and post to learn about one of my clients who paid off her student loan with the clients she got in my private group.

This one’s a contrarian take with humor.

I’ve got a lot of grammar nazis who try to correct the way I write. So I poked fun at it and the post did well.

This post started in the middle of a story.

Shortly after the intro I tie it back to bizness. This post brought in a ton of sales and conversations from folks who had “a-ha” moments.

Question hooks work amazing because questions are naturally engaging.

Mix them in, but don’t overdo it. This one was about a big mistake people make when selling their offers.

Present pain hook.

The headline “Getting claps not conversions” instantly calls out the pain of engagement but no sales.

If that’s a pain you have, you’re hooked.

Clear and desirable benefit hook.

Someone reads that headline and knows exactly what they’re gonna get if they keep reading.

Alright that’s enough examples.

If you want to see more just read my emails and daily LinkedIn posts.

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Those are 3 annoyingly common mistakes I see being made with content.

And now you have the fix :-)

Go forth and create better content now.

That's gonna wrap up today's action section.

Hope that helps 🤙

Oh P.S. - if you're interested in building and monetizing audiences?

My Audience Rainmaker FB group is now open.

It's free to join right now and we have 460 Rainmakers on the inside.

You can request to join the group here.

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When you're ready, here are 5 ways I can help you...

1. Build and monetize audiences in my Audience Rainmaker community here.

2. Learn my multi-million dollar formula to write emails that sell here.

3. Launch a tiny digital product to Get Paid Everyday here.

4. Get paid to write simple 5th grade emails that sell here.

5. Join the waitlist for the next Leveraged Offer Launch workshop here.