Being Consistent is a Challenge

One of the most common challenges I hear about from my clients and those in my Facebook Group, is not being able to be consistent.

But what I’ve learned is that being consistent is a catch-all phrase.

Maybe even an excuse for not digging into the underlying issues for not showing up in your business.

Being consistent as a business owner means creating content that consistently aligns with your values, passions, goals, and the level of service you provide.

Consistency also applies to showing up and being truly present in your business for your audience.

Consistent is one of the 5 C’s I often reference when talking about building a personal brand.

It is truly important for building relationships and the know love and trust factor. What usually happens when people aren’t consistent is that there are underlying issues like fear, doubt, etc.

The Factors That Influence Being Consistent

Let’s take a look at some of the factors that influence your ability to be consistent that you may not be thinking about when you say that being consistent is a challenge. I think that once you realize the reasons you aren’t being consistent, you’ll be able to create a plan that works for you and helps you show up consistently for your audience.

Fear Causes People to Be Inconsistent

Let’s look at fear as something that is holding you back from being consistent.

I believe fear is one of the biggest reasons people aren’t consistent.

Fear holds you back from not only posting content but creating content. You may not even realize that you are afraid. Subconsciously your mind is referring back to something that intimidated you, something someone said to you in the past, or you are simply afraid of judgment.

If you feel like you are struggling to be consistent, do a fear check.

In what areas are you lacking consistency?

Is it in your messaging?

Or is it with content creation?

Is it posting the content and being present for your audience?

Are you afraid of being in front of the camera to post images of you as the face of your brand, or do you have complete stage fright when it comes to creating videos?

Where is fear holding you back from being consistent?

Once you recognize where the hang-up is, it’s time to do mindset work.

Ask yourself, is the fear legitimate? Chances are, no it isn’t. If you’ve identified that creating content is where you lack consistency, ask yourself why you are struggling to create?

Are you afraid of being judged?

Perhaps you are afraid of someone questioning you?

Does imposter syndrome or doubt in your level of expertise have you stuck in a pattern of procrastination?

Maybe you haven’t seen results from social media yet? Is your mind telling you that it’s not worth your time?

Are you simply worried about what others might say about you?

Let’s dive into these a little more deeply.

Doubt As a Cause for Not Being Consistent

Perhaps you have doubt that you are an expert in your niche? Maybe that doubt is stemming from seeing others in your space who have more followers and likes than you have.

Here’s the deal. You believed in yourself enough to start your business, so I believe that deep down you know you are an expert!

It’s OK to consume content created by other experts in your area of expertise, but it isn’t OK to consume the content and let it influence your thoughts about yourself.

Maybe the other people have been on social media longer. Or maybe they have been an entrepreneur longer. No matter, they have an ideal audience that is most likely different than your ideal audience.

And now you’re thinking, but their demographics are the same and the same people that follow them are following me? My response to that, so what! A big fat so what!

Why? Because certain people will resonate with their content and them as a personal brand. But others will resonate with you.

This is why we create a personal brand, to differentiate ourselves so that others can figure out if they like us and want to work with us. You can refer back to episode 111 for more on building a personal brand.

I’m not for everyone, and you aren’t for everyone. I hate to break that to you, but it’s true. There are certain people our unique gifts and personality will resonate with and there are others that if they hired us, we would be so frustrated and we’d want to pull our hair out.

So don’t let what someone else is doing or what their numbers reflect influence the content you create and share, or how consistently you show up for your audience. Your ideal audience is waiting for you and if you don’t show up, they might give up, on you, but most importantly on themselves because help didn’t arrive.

Clarity Helps with Being Consistent

A lack of clarity can also hold you back. Are you feeling uncertain about your niche, zone of genius, or your ideal client? If you are uncertain about any of these you will be confused and that will cause a lack of confidence, fear, and doubt. As a result, you’ll be in a state of procrastination.

Something we know is true is that our thoughts create our results. So, if doubt, fear, or a lack of clarity are holding you back, you must do the mindset work to change the negative thoughts.

In Episode 94 I shared strategies for overcoming procrastination. I will never say it is easy, but there are things that you can do to overcome it and move the needle forward on your business.

One such thing is really focusing on your why, why you started this business, why you want to serve others, why you can serve others. Look at your values, visions, and passions and identify your niche or zone of genius. Map out the details of who your ideal audience is, what their major problem is that you can solve for them, and how you can help them.

Doing these exercises will give you a deeper level of clarity. It may take time, but I assure you it will be worth every minute, and you’ll end up with a plethora of content in the process.

Does Being Consistent Really Matter?

Yes, it absolutely does. But you must be aligned with your values in order to accomplish consistency and for it to matter.

If your intentions aren’t coming from a place of service, rethink the reason you are on social media or creating content, to begin with.

Likewise, if you are copying the efforts of someone else in your area of expertise, don’t bother. Why, because if you aren’t being your authentic self, your content won’t resonate with your ideal audience.

Your ideal audience will see through inauthenticity really quickly. Similarly, if you aren’t posting what comes naturally to you, you will attract non-ideal clients. Both you and the client will become frustrated, and you won’t build trust.

In other words, why bother being consistent if you aren’t being present in a way that aligns with your values, your abilities, and the people you want to connect with.

Remember that social media and your website are platforms to use for sharing value for free. Yes, they are marketing platforms, but they are meant to be used for the purpose of building relationships, warming up your audience, and building the trust factor.

Creating content consistently, with consistent messages, and being present consistently, will help do all three.

Imposter Syndrome Holds You Back From Being Consistent

If you haven’t listened to Episode 66, go back and listen to it. The entire episode is about imposter syndrome, how it can hold you back, and how you can overcome it.

The problem with imposter syndrome is exactly that, that it can and will hold you back. It will hold you back from being consistent, and from showing up as the expert you are.

Any time you are creating content, create it first, then go on your platforms to consume. This will help ensure that you aren’t being influenced by what others are doing and posting. It will help you stay focused on creating genuine content that gives value to your audience. If you consume first, you may be tempted to use an idea already used by someone else in your space.

Similarly, you might feel intimidated that someone else came up with an idea and you didn’t and therefore you aren’t good enough…imposter syndrome.

When you create with your core values and your experiences in mind, you can and will show up consistently and be able to create content that resonates with your audience.

Your story is unique to you. Your journey to gain the expertise you have is specific to you and your audience wants to hear about it.

No one else can serve the people that God has called you to serve. Stop comparing yourself to others and focus on the fact that you have unique gifts that are meant to serve the people who resonate with you and need your unique abilities and your unique personality traits.

Your Audience is Watching You

I assure you that the content you create is being consumed. People like to lay in the weeds so to speak. They don’t want others to know they were scrolling through Instagram, so they don’t take time to like or comment.

Likes and follower counts don’t matter. Don’t let either stop you from creating content consistently.

Something you can tell yourself around this mindset block is that there are at least 10 ideal clients watching me right now. They are consuming my content, and one day soon, the content will resonate with them fully and they will reach out to me.

You can also remind yourself that your content holds value for your audience. Repeat after me, my content is helping others. My content is providing value that my audience needs.

These are just a couple of affirmations that you can write and/or say every day. The more you believe in the content you are creating and the value it provides for your audience, the less procrastination you will have and therefore, the more consistent you will become.

Life Happens and Prevents Consistency

The reality is that life happens around us, for us, and to us every day. It’s impossible to be consistent all of the time unless we have a strategy in place to do so.

That strategy has to include content creation and mindset.

Let’s Talk About Mindset

I suggested a few affirmations. These are going to be critical for staying positive and believing in the power of your content. But you also have to do the work around the fact that you are an expert in your niche or your zone of genius.

If you have doubts about your expertise, journal around your experiences that brought you to believe you were an expert in the first place.

You have past work experience, you have certain personality traits, you have the tools and resources needed, etc. Think about your ideal audience as who you were a few years back. They are exactly where you were and lack the wisdom that you have to offer them.

Your thoughts around this will influence how others perceive you as an expert and your ability to show up consistently for them. So do the mindset work. It’s critical for success.

Strategy Is Important When Trying to Be Consistent

Having a strategy in place for creating content will help limit excuses and improve consistency.

It helps to create content buckets. For example, one of my coaching clients is an esthetician. We recently created her content buckets and a strategy to get her back on track for posting more consistently.

The content buckets we created are corrective skincare, preventive skincare, skincare maintenance, services, and products. Because she is working full time and her esthetician business is a side-gig she is growing into full-time entrepreneurship, she only has so much time for content creation.

The strategy we came up with is to create six posts at a time, for three posts per week, to have two weeks of content. She is then going to schedule her posts through Facebook Business Suite. It’s free and easy to use and she can post to both Facebook and Instagram where her ideal audience hangs out.

Once the posts are scheduled, she can focus on other aspects of her business for the remainder of the two weeks and simply engage as she has time.

Posting three times a week may not seem like enough for some people, but if your goal is ultimately to be consistent, you have to do what works for you. If you overextend yourself, you will get frustrated and burnt out and will fall back into inconsistency.

Taking Action is Key For Success

Mindset and strategy are great, but if you don’t take action, the mindset work and strategy won’t be effective.

Be consistent with the mindset work as daily reminders and affirmations are key for long-term success. Keep your content strategy simple so that you don’t get overwhelmed and can take consistent action.

The equation that has helped many entrepreneurs reach success is this:

Mindset + Strategy + Action = Results

Struggling to be consistent? Need some help with your mindset and creating a strategy that will help you take action and produce results?

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