This is going to be a shorter episode, but one that hits close to home for me and many of my clients I think. Fun story - I drafted episodes 121 and 122 and then asked Nate, my husband, what should my next podcast be about. He immediately said “dinosaurs.” But then he followed up with “creating from joy” and I was like OH SHOOT, YES. Thus you can all thank and/or blame Nathanael for this episode about not letting money or pressure take away from creating for joy.

At any stage of business but especially at the beginning, it can feel like you have to create content in order to make money. It can be very easy to create from a place of scarcity. If I don’t post I won’t get clients.

Where there is 100% truth to that, I want to encourage creation from a different perspective today.

This is something that has come up recently with two of my business clients. The “pressure to create” completely ruining the creation process. Sucking the joy right out of something that brings both of these women joy - if money and pressure are not linked to it.

My clients who create the best content (meaning it lands with their audience AND leads to growth for their brand), create content they want to create.

THAT is what today’s talk is about. If you feel pressure to create content, or you feel like your content creation is fueled by checking boxes and making money instead of BEING CREATIVE, you need to listen up.

First off, we all feel that. The pressure. But I’d argue that if you’re not creating content that is joyful for you to create…it’s a bit a of a waste. Right?

A practice that has become a staple in my own business is to create when I feel “off” or “down” or “bored” or “pressured.” But not just to create. To let go of all the “rules” and just make what I want to. Because I believe that’s what I was put on this earth to do. I used to believe I wasn’t “creative” because I struggle to create original things. I think very practically and analytically. But being practical and analytical in nature does not mean I cannot also possess creativity. And the same is true for you.

Creativity can express itself in so many ways. Drawling parallels between concepts is creative for instance. Making people laugh can come from creativity. It’s not drawing, or design alone.

Thus, when I feel like I need to make sales, or disconnected from my audience, or this odd pressure to check all the boxes, I just do WHAT I WANT.

I think this comes from my idea freedom which is “what I want, when I want.” I feel joy when I have options and the freedom to decide what I want to do, when I want to do it. So I lean into that. I hate that term. But it fits. That’s what we’ll get into now…

When the pressure, self-imposed or otherwise, starts to set in, how can we change direction towards joy in our creation process?

So, my first question for you is - what do you enjoy creating? If you don’t know yet, you’ll only find out through trial and error.

AND let me point out - it doesn’t have to be content. It can be an email, blog, workbook, podcast, apparel.

Fun story - my most recent dino + gains apparel launch was birthed from boredom and frustration. An apparel launch wasn’t in the yearly plan. I was supposed to be working on a course, and I was frustrated and bored with that content. So I just said screw it, let’s take a break. But then I had no plan for the break, so I started playing with designs in Canva. After three hours or so, I accidentally built out an apparel line. Launched it a week later. And I am so so so in love with it.