The Kim Doyal Show

When Content Becomes Personal: My Journey Through Storytelling

I’m thrilled to dive deep into a topic that’s close to my heart and crucial for creators, coaches, and course creators everywhere: the power of personal storytelling in content creation.

In the world of copy and content, there’s a prevailing notion that it’s all about the reader, not about us, the creators.

But let’s face it, that’s only half the story.

The truth is, we’re in the business of connection, of building relationships with our audience through the stories we share, the experiences we recount, and the vulnerabilities we expose.

They’re the threads that weave the fabric of our connections, making our audience feel seen, heard, and understood. That’s why I’ve anchored my content creation around a core content value: making people feel better for having engaged with my content.

Whether through learning something new, enjoying a moment of levity, or feeling a heart-to-heart connection, it’s about enriching the lives of those who stumble upon my work.

Take, for example, my journey through one of life’s harshest realities: loss.

In 2003, life threw me a curveball that would forever change my trajectory. I was widowed at 32, left to navigate the world as a single mother of two small children (my kids were 6 & 2 when their Dad died).

This part of my story, a marker of my resilience and transformation, was something I initially kept close to my chest, mentioned briefly on my About page, yet it was a pivotal chapter in my life.

It wasn’t until 2017, on the anniversary of my husband’s death, that I chose to share this deeply personal story with my audience in an email titled “In Loving Memory and a Personal Message of Hope.”

The outpouring of responses was overwhelming, a testament to the power of vulnerability in forging deeper connections. This experience taught me a valuable lesson: our stories, no matter how often we’ve shared them, are always new to someone in our audience.

But sharing personal stories is not about airing every detail of our lives; it’s about finding the balance between personal and private. It’s about sharing those moments that illuminate our humanity, that make us relatable, that show we’re more alike than we are different.

For instance, a seemingly trivial incident like falling down the stairs while distracted by my phone became a metaphor for the importance of staying present, of paying attention to what’s right in front of us.

The ‘falling-down-the-stairs’ story I shared with my audience wasn’t just a humorous anecdote; it was a reflection on mindfulness in both life and business.

You might be wondering, what was the whole point of that email?

Sure, there was a pivot and a call to action—though I can’t quite recall what it was, whether it was to click through to a podcast, a blog post, or an offer. The real value, however, lies in the fact that we’re all human.

I don’t take myself too seriously, and that aspect of my personality makes me more relatable and approachable.

Sharing personal stories and experiences is invaluable because, like many of you, I find myself far more creative when I’m inspired or feel a genuine connection. While keyword-based articles, how-to guides, and case studies certainly have their place in content creation—a place that’s not disappearing anytime soon—I believe their presentation will evolve with AI.

It’s crucial to remember that you are the differentiator in everything you...

Hey, guys. What's going on before we get into today's episode? This is a special series that I'm doing this week. It's a 5 part series based on Everything is Content. Now you might remember, I don't know, a month and a half ago, 6 episodes or so ago, I did an episode on Everything is Content 2.0. And I'll link to that in the show notes for this. But I'm actually hosting an Everything is Content workshop, and so this is kind of a preview for that. This was a 5 part email series that I have since turned into videos, and now I'm doing this as a podcast. So you'll get a taste of the 5 part framework.

I know this sounds a little meta, and we're getting a little into the matrix here, but I watch how I do this, but this is a taste of the framework itself. And again, you can go to kimdoyal.com/eicworkshop if you wanna join me in the live workshop I'm doing. It is on Wednesday, March 6th. So, depending on when you're listening to this, if if that date has come and gone, then I'm gonna be continuing to either do this live or you'll be able to just get the workshop itself. Again, go to kimdoyal.com/eicworkshop. Alright, now here is part 1 of Everything is Content. Hey there. It's Kim Doyal, and welcome to my show where digital marketing meets real stories, experiences, and strategies.

You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at what's working and not working in my business, as well as other experts who show up and share their stories. As much as I love talking about tangible marketing principles and tactics, we'll dig a little deeper with the mindset and explore what's required to create a business you love on your terms that also supports your life. I wanna help you understand the why behind the how. Whether you're a seasoned marketer or just dipping your toes in, remember that marketing is a journey, and the goal is to enjoy it. My desire is to guide you on your journey and remind you that no matter what life throws at you, you've got this. Hey, guys. What's up? Kim Doyal here, and I'm doing a 5 part series called Everything is Content. Now, I came up with the hashtag Everything is Content back in 2016.

I'm not going to repeat that whole story here. Still, if you want a little more behind-the-scenes of how that came about, I did a whole podcast episode recently, and it was Everything is Content 2.0, which is an easy guide to getting started, you know, got to use those, what you call it, good headlines, right? But this is all based on a 5 part email series where I'm giving actual examples of everything as content to show you how you can apply this to your own business and how it can translate into conversions, whether that's leads or sales. Now, we're going to go a little bit deeper with this. I'm also working on an ebook that I hope should be done within a month or so. I might do an audio version because I clearly love doing this, but these are what I do with this, so let me back up a little bit. So, Everything is Content is based on the idea that I'm one who I hate keyword research. I know there's value in SEO. I'm not negating that at all, but with AI, I feel like that's kind of a race to the bottom, and who knows where it's going to be a year from now? But my whole goal with Everything is Content is to get people just to start creating, right? And seeing that there are content ideas all around us that fit under this umbrella in our business.

You don't need to only talk about email marketing or for me, email marketing or content marketing. Right? Or I love using AI for content, but not necessarily to write for me. There's a whole other marketing element that I use it for. But sometimes I want to talk about, hey, guess what? I'm moving back to Costa Rica. I am. Or, you know what? This is what I do when I feel out of alignment. Or, this is how I ground myself each day. So, all of those are under the umbrella of who I am in my business.

That's where everything is content comes into play. All of our...

00:00 Sending random rants, reconnecting with authenticity. China.

05:31 Embracing ignorance, shifting perspective, and embracing fun.

09:13 Balancing organic and paid traffic for brand.

11:49 Challenges with apps integration, user demands, burnout.

15:38 Frustration with big companies and their rules.

17:23 Generic ebook platform with AI and marketing features.

22:43 Seeking genuine connections, not just building tools.

23:53 Favor real connections over forced opt-ins.

29:14 Long journey to clarity and productivity.

32:46 Custom GPT creation for sales page writing.

33:34 Task manager helps stay on track, API potential.

38:28 AI tool not useful, unclear beneficial use case.

42:15 Draft article based on conversations, structure content.

44:29 Focus on actionable, personalized content for improvement.

49:51 Simplify your website strategy, focus on writing.

51:10 Newcomers face overwhelming and confusing landscape.

53:54 Big platforms need better customer support. Thanks!

Kim [00:00:00]:

Hey there. It's Kim Doyal, and welcome to my show where digital marketing meets real stories, experiences, and strategies. You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at what's working and not working in my business, as well as other experts who show up and share their stories. As much as I love talking about tangible marketing principles and tactics, we'll dig a little deeper with mindset and explore what's required to create a business you love on your terms that also supports your life. I wanna help you understand the why behind the how. Whether you're a seasoned marketer or just dipping your toes in, remember that marketing is a journey, and the goal is to enjoy it. My desire is to guide you on your journey and remind you that no matter what life throws at you, you've got this. Hey.

Kim [00:00:44]:

What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Kim Doyal Show. It's been a while since I've done a I was gonna say live interview, but it's live for us. So we'll go ahead and run with that. And I'm excited because I think this conversation is gonna go in directions that neither of us are really aware of, but it's gonna be really fun. My guest today is Addison Best. So first of all, Addison, thank you so much for being here.

Addison [00:01:06]:

Well, thank you for having me, Kim. It's I think we talked about a little bit before this started. I haven't spoken to anybody in, I feel like, a decade. I used to have an English learning podcast with my brother, but that was all audio. Now, I'm just looking in my camera, and I feel like a deer in headlights, and I'm just kind of like, oh, wait. This is how I look? And I'm kind of freaked out, but I'm gonna try to calm down and carry on, I guess.

Kim [00:01:30]:

Yeah. Well, you know what's funny is it's almost like because I wanna do the eye contact thing, I'm like, well, I'll just go ahead and look at the camera and not worry about seeing myself or whatever. But, yeah. No. This is gonna be fun because first of all, for a little backstory about, you know, Addison had reached out to me. And this just goes to show you guys in the fall, and I was not getting the notifications from Gravity Forms. So it was like, oh my god. I've missed all these but before we get into a lot of the meat of what we wanna talk about, which we're gonna kinda go down this AI and and the impact it has on content and email, I love the backstory, Addison.

Kim [00:02:12]:

So if you could share your backstory with listeners, that would be great.

Addison [00:02:14]:

Well, it's funny. Yeah. I've been sending Kim, random emails that are kinda rants recently, so I didn't even know if she was getting it or she thought this guy's a bit nuts or whatever she was thinking. But I do it anyway because I'm trying to get back to my

Simplifying your business to increase sales might seem counterintuitive, but it’s far from it.

The funny thing is if someone had told me five years ago that I wanted to simplify my business, I’m pretty sure I would have disagreed with them.

I was reminded of this last weekend while working on my new site.

I’m using KadenceWP (which I absolutely LOVE), and because it’s been a long time since I’ve done a new theme, I forgot about the domino effect that happens when you start touching things.

The domino effect is when you touch one thing; it creates a ripple effect (and multiple dominos start falling that have to be dealt with).

Here’s what I mean:

I started with the homepage of my site and have two areas that highlight what I do and how people can work with me.

The problem with these is that since they’re only highlights, there’s a learn more button that people click on to go deeper.

So everything from the homepage that has a “learn more” button needs an additional page (I know, I’m stating the obvious, but go along with me).

I’ve been working on the site for a while, so it’s been a process. I didn’t create a sitemap first (which would have solved some of this), but I also have a lot of pages and content on my site that I need to go through to delete or update.

I’ve also gotten some much-needed clarity about my business over the last few months, so things have changed slightly.

It wasn’t until listening to a podcast after working on the site (and internal pages that need to be linked to) that I realized I was probably making things more complicated than they needed to be.

I was listening to the podcast episode on the ‘Get Paid Podcast’ with Clair Pelletreau. She was interviewing a woman I hadn’t heard of named Kirsten Roldan.

First, I LOVE discovering new people (anyone else go down the rabbit hole when they listen to podcasts?), and I LOVE this woman. She made $350k in her FIRST year in business!

Transform Ideas Into Inspired Action: Subscribe to the SPARK

Yes, it was her first year.

The two things I love about her:

1. She wants people to find peace in their business and stop complicating things
2. She does that primarily through teaching email marketing and business systems

She had me at email.

When I went to her website to check things out, I realized she only had a few offers.

She has an agency (first offer, DFY) and two primary offers.

That’s it.

Talk about simple, right?

Which made me think about my site and offers.

I do coaching and have courses. Easy enough, right?

Well… I’m not so sure.

All the courses I’ll be listing are already created and are relative to everything I do (email, content, newsletters, AI).

And I’m only selling things that are recent-ish.

But…the bigger question is whether or not this aligns with my bigger goals and where I want to be a year from now.

Because of this, I realized I needed to edit the homepage… again.

This isn’t a big deal because I’m essentially combining two things (Newsletters & Email Marketing) and combining them into one (I know, duh).

So, it...

There’s nothing like pissy internet trolls to help you get crystal clear about who you engage with and that you don’t owe anybody anything.

Not to mention the joy of choosing to block these people from your life.

My friend Karen Michaels (a brilliant social media strategist) repeatedly repeats that it’s vitally as important to curate your feeds as it is to post and engage.

I won’t get into a bunch of details here- because the entire exchange was, quite frankly, a little wackadoodle. I re-posted something on Facebook about the Barbie snub of Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie not being nominated for Best Director or Best Actress.

The FB repost was a quote from Bette Midler.

To which a friend replied that it was typical of Amercians to lie and omit only to advance a narrative.

Um… excuse me?

What I should have done was delete him and block him immediately. But because this person was a “friend” (we’ve had actual conversations on Zoom, I’ve interviewed him, etc.), I was pretty respectful in my response.

Why a white male from Canada has a dog in the fight when it comes to American women feeling this was unjust (and just a little bit ironic considering the context of the movie) is beyond me.

Little fact for you: In the 100 years of the Academy Awards, only EIGHT females have been nominated for director, with only three winnings.

Either way, it was a ridiculous exchange and out of left field. After I deleted all of his comments and blocked him, all I could think was that this person must have something deeper going on and decided to pick a fight.

I’m all for differing opinions, provided you can be respectful.

Transform Ideas into Inspired Action: Subscribe to the SPARKThe implication was also that because the movie received other awards, people (i.e., women) shouldn’t be upset.

Here’s the thing: I’m at a point in my life when I’m done trying to appease idiots. I don’t need to justify or explain myself to anyone.

That being said, I’m pretty sure social media isn’t the place where meaningful change is going to happen, especially with someone shows up just to be a dick.

It makes me think of the Maya Angelou quote:

Here’s another internet troll story from last week that happened with a friend.

I’m going to be a little cryptic since it’s not my personal story, but you’ll get the gist of it.

A friend posted on Twitter that he was deleting a large quantify of cold subscribers from his email list that had come through one specific growth strategy, then asked if people could guess what it was.

Someone from a company that sells this growth strategy jumped in with what appeared to be an attempt at a diplomatic reply, only to end up basically blaming the issue on the creator/business owner not having a good onboarding sequence.

Sigh.

Huge opportunity missed for creating a conversation about doing better.

My friend is pretty brilliant when it comes to email marketing, growth, data, and automations.

By the way, the growth strategy that was called out was referral programs.

I’ll go on the record now and say that if these programs don’t improve, in other...

There is nothing like a little avoidance to force your hand on getting some much-needed clarity.

Especially when the priority is cash.

Let me back up a little and share what brought me here.

I spent a lot of last year trying to remove things from my business, or so I thought.

On one hand, I created some incredibly solid habits that have stuck, but I feel like I still haven’t moved the needle on things that will have the biggest impact on my business, at least not as much as I had hoped.

And honestly, who’s to say what’s enough?

Could I have done more?

Sure.

We always can.

But I also know that last year was a lot. Being back in California, my Dad’s health challenges, and more time with family & friends (which was great, but when everything is a 2-hour drive, one way, it can throw your schedule for a loop), and my own recovery from back surgery made for a long year.

So, even though my goal was to simplify and remove things, I can’t say I was super successful.

I’ve accepted the fact that part of who I am is about exploring new ideas. This is fine, provided I keep the new ideas in the “exploring stage” and not in the “pivot and implement” stage.

The two things (outside of life in general), that threw me off my path were AI and then hosting the retreat in Costa Rica.

Neither of which I regret. Both were totally worth it, but both brought up deeper questions and a certain amount of evaluating what I want my business to look like.

But let’s not go sideways with that.

This episode is how I realized I was more frustrated than I thought and how I found the much-needed clarity I didn’t even know I needed.

Which will lead to more cash flow.

Avoidance At Its Finest

Unless I’m out of town or have other plans, I usually do a little work every Sunday just to get ahead of my week.

I look at my calendar, plan my week out, and try to get ahead of a few things if I’m in the mood.

This past Sunday started out like every other Sunday that I chose to work, but after my first cup of coffee, I couldn’t get into any sort of rhythm.

I found myself going from thing to thing and then from one idea to the next.

Then, I had the brilliant idea that I should “create a plan.”

I know you know what kind of plan I’m talking about. One of those “big picture” plans that looks pretty, presents itself as the ultimate organization for a “beautiful mind,” and represents all things fabulous about your business.

But in reality… it’s just a HUGE distraction.

It’s the epitome of activity disguising itself as productivity.

Even though I wasn’t sure what to do next, there was no fooling me this time. I knew that would be a waste of time, and I wouldn’t be any clearer on what was going on.

So… what did I do?

I stepped away from everything for a while.

Then it hit me.

I didn’t need to make a plan to accomplish everything; I needed to do a brain dump, pick my top 3 priorities, and then make a list of things I could “put aside” for a while.

Here’s what that looked like:

Here are the categories of my brain dump:

1. Website
2. Content
3. High Level
4. Paid Traffic
5. Courses
6. Coaching
7. Community
8. Priorities

Hopefully this won’t be too boring, but I’m going to share what I scribbled under each of these and will go into more detail in the podcast, and then I’ll explain the three priorities.

• Switch to my new theme (Kadence, which I LOVE)
• Finish copy
• Add shop
• Update coaching & courses pages
• New tools & resource page
• Check SEO & Google indexing, update older content for SEO (if relevant to current content)

• Podcast: schedule...

And it should be email; the rest is just icing on the cake.

But, before we get into that…

One thing that has me really excited about the New Year and 2024, in general, is that there seems to be a broad desire in the marketing space for things to change.

Hallelujah!

A few things have contributed to this.

The last 3+ years have been a little nuts across the globe, which in turn has made people feel weary. Of course, it’s not all been gloom and doom, even if we have to make a conscious effort to seek out what’s good (which is totally worth it).

But I think we can all agree that it’s “been a lot.”

In terms of the digital marketing/creator space, the bottom line is that the space has matured.

People are more educated about how everything works; they’re burnt out from hype promises, big launches, and the idea that you have to strive towards millions (and no judgment if that’s what you want, ya’ girl does, but you won’t see me driving any lambos or posting pictures of mansions).

With a massive distrust of government and media, we’re learning to rely on ourselves.

Which is a beautiful thing because that’s where real strength comes from.

I’ve seen a lot of New Year’s posts about people wanting to remove things as opposed to “kicking ass and taking names” (something I’ve said myself on more than one occasion).

Every year, I choose a new word. I chose my word for 2024 in December of last year. This is something that’s sacred to me and isn’t something that I have any desire to share, but rest assured it’s a positive word.

This year, I’ve also chosen a “money” word.

I was listening to a podcast episode with Kendall Summerhawk yesterday, and she explained how she does this and what her word is/has been. She suggested the first word that comes to mind (and it’s ONE word, not a phrase or sentence).

The first word that came to mind for me?

Which is something I want across all areas of my life.

You might be thinking that this is something most people want – and to a certain extent, I agree. Of course, most people want more ease.

But more often than not, they don’t want to change anything or do anything to achieve it.

My therapist said she read something that said that 90% of people don’t want to change. 🤯

Which is a little mind-blowing to me.

When you’re hardwired or have spent the last 30 years constantly learning and growing, it’s a hard concept to grasp.

At the same time, I get it. Unless you’ve realized there is another way to do things (to live, to be, to feel, to earn, etc.), how do you know what’s possible?

This is why I’ve started signing off my emails with “Stay curious.”

Most entrepreneurs I know are curious, they do want something different or they wouldn’t be in business for themselves. And now even the ‘different’ looks different.

Back to ease and how that translates to money.

For as long as I can remember, money has felt hard for me.

My parents raised my siblings and me with incredible work ethics (and were both hard workers their whole lives. My dad still has a hard time doing “nothing”).

I had no other concept of earning or having money other than you had to “work hard.”

No one taught us (or them) about compound interest, investments, and the role money played in our lives (and here I am, at 53, doing a deep dive on ALL of this).

It’s not that any of these are new concepts to me at this stage in my life, but I guess we don’t “get it” until we get

And for what it’s worth, that’s kind of the theme for this next year: both with business and my life.

In other words, doing things differently.

Initially, I was excited to do a year-in-review podcast. I’ve always enjoyed doing my look back on the year and seeing what worked, what didn’t, and how that would impact the coming year.

So much happened in 2023 that much of it feels a bit like a blur.

In so many ways, the year really felt like “a lot.”

The contrast I experienced in moving back to California from Costa Rica felt overwhelming at times.

The first contrast might seem obvious, and that was the weather.

Having grown up and spent the majority of my adult life in the Bay Area, I didn’t think it would have such an impact on me, but it did. It didn’t help that I moved back during a crazy, heavy winter with massive snow (I’ve been at my Dad’s since moving back, and it’s about an hour southeast of Lake Tahoe).

Beyond my short stint and one winter in Boise, Idaho, I’ve never lived in the snow.

I have zero intention of doing that again when I leave here.

I also forgot how incredibly dry it is here. Costa Rica is humid, but it’s not like Orlando. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I acclimated to that climate after a while. Not to mention, my skin felt fantastic.

As much as I missed the seasons (to the extent that Northern California actually has seasons), winter is the season I like the least.

Snow is pretty, and I love how quiet it makes everything, but I’d be fine if my only experience of snow moving forward were a weekend visit.

The Biggest Adjustment of All

People.

My Dad will be 80 this year, and his health isn’t all that great. You wouldn’t look at him and think so, but he has a handful of issues (his heart is the main issue) that are somewhat serious. His health and missing family are the primary reason I moved back.

The secondary reason was that the last year there was more trying than I realized. I had visitors every month for nine months, with only one month break during that time.

As much as I was super appreciative that people came to visit, it interrupted my life and work in a way that impacted my income and my energy (again, hadn’t really realized this while I was experiencing it). All my guests were people who were close to me, so it wasn’t like they were difficult.

This just validated what I already knew about myself, and am going to be firm about in the future. I require a good chunk of time to myself. Boundaries are key for me – regardless of whether they make sense to other people or not.

It took a few “come to Jesus” moments with my Dad also for him to “get” that just because I’m at home working doesn’t mean I’m available for midday chats, errands, questions, or whatever else he thinks of. That being said, it’s a good thing I did come back.

We had three trips to the ER this year (all via an ambulance) because of his health. My siblings are both two hours away so my Dad would have been on his own until...

This episode is for you.

I know you might be thinking, “Um… duh Kim, who doesn’t.”

But I will take this in a different direction than you might expect. At least compared to trite advice, you might see popping up at this time of year.

Like everything I’m doing moving forward, this episode is going to be a mix of things that speak to both the tangible (tasks) and intangible (thoughts, beliefs, mindset).

I’ll share the only way to grow and scale in 2024; then I’m going to share a story with you that was the inspiration for this episode.

The point of sharing the inspiration is to piggyback on the last episode, “Everything Is Content, 2.0.” I want you to start finding content ideas and inspiration from all areas of your life.

So first, here’s the ONLY way to grow and scale in 2024:

Take complete and total responsibility for everything in your life.

Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it?

Contrary to how that might feel when you hear it, I promise you that when you truly step into owning responsibility for everything in your life, it creates massive freedom, which then opens all kinds of doors.

Besides showing you that “Everything Is Content,” the story that led to the inspiration for this episode is also an example of me walking the walk.

Because it’s going to be much less about the contrast that showed up and much more about how I caught myself playing the victim, feeding old beliefs, and then stopping that bullshit as soon as I realized what I was doing.

Here’s what happened.

I recently had a conflict with someone I love very much.

It went sideways, some heated things were said, and then a resolution was reached (sounds so formal, but truly, the details aren’t what matters here).

Like all of us, I did the normal regurgitation of things in my head.

You know what I’m talking about… “I should have said this, yea, but, if only, blah, blah, blah.”

After having returned home from the holiday and a fairly good night’s sleep, although not enough, I found myself rehashing things within minutes of waking up.

Two things to note here: even though I was home and had slept pretty well, it was less sleep than I needed, and I was pretty worn out from the previous four days. Because I woke up earlier than I wanted to, in some ways, I ‘woke up on the wrong side of the bed.’

The house was pretty cold (52), so I got to work to get a fire going right away after getting the kettle going for my coffee (I use a French Press and enjoy this slower process of brewing my coffee in the morning).

While I was doing all of this, my mind started going a million miles a minute.

Replaying the conflict, wishing I had said things differently (or not at all), and really working myself up.

It only took me about 30 minutes, but it was like someone had splashed cold water on my face.

I instantly thought, “What the hell are you doing to yourself?”

Which was then followed by a firm and resounding “Fuck this!”

I realized how quickly my ego had jumped in to take the wheel, and I was feeding that little shit as though I was a helpless victim to what was going on in my own mind (humans really are fascinating creatures!).

I’ll come back to this realization in a moment, but before that, I’m going to get a little meta here, and I want to share why this victim realization was so powerful to me.

The first time anyone called me a victim was in 2011.

It was my therapist/mentor (who I still speak...

I turned it into a hashtag: #everythingiscontent, and now you can find that hashtag used across social media. Was I the original creator of that hashtag? Who knows, but when I started using it, you couldn’t search it.

I created it because I discovered how incredibly true it was.

This was after I had been writing as The WordPress Chick for eight years and knew I was moving towards pivoting to my personal brand.

Two primary factors contributed to growing my personal brand, even before I made it official. Both were because of writing:

1. My podcast (The WPChick Podcast => The Kim Doyal Show)
2. My ‘almost daily’ emails

I’m going to go more in-depth with both, so sit tight.

I’ve said this before, and it’s a hill I’m willing to die on 👇:

The BEST thing you can do to grow and scale your business online is to learn how to write and do it as often as possible.

You don’t have to want to become a writer, but if you’re going to create the type of business that supports you without trading time for money, you need to create assets that work for you when you’re not working.

In other words, content, courses, ads, etc.

Even if you only want to produce audio or video content, you still need to know how to write compelling copy to attract the right people.

Off the top of my head, here is where good writing comes into play online:

• Content (your website)
• Emails
• Social content
• Website copy
• Sales page copy
• Email sequences
• Courses
• Podcast posts (show notes)
• Engagement
• Worksheets
• Ebooks
• Video headlines and descriptions

I’m sure I’m missing plenty on that list, but you cannot grow an online business without learning to write.

Period.

End of story.

And if you’re listening to this and feeling resistance (i.e., maybe you’re feeling a bit pissy?), then it’s time to do a little entrepreneurial adulting and get really honest with yourself.

How badly do you want this?

In other words, are you willing to do the work?

I’m not preaching hustle here; that’s not what I’m talking about.

I mean, are you willing to get comfortable with being uncomfortable?

I have yet to meet a single creator/entrepreneur who doesn’t experience fear.

It’s part of the journey.

I also haven’t met one who doesn’t have to write (even if you have a ghostwriter or your content is primarily audio and/or video, you still have to write headlines, captions, descriptions, etc.).

When I was getting started, I had plenty of fear but was so ignorant of the entire online marketing space that it was much easier to stay out