"A peace negotiator and member of a working group I convened at the Santa Fe Institute described social media platforms as holding our most important relationships hostage. To access them, we wade daily through brain-rotting media we would otherwise choose to avoid."

the GuardianZuckerberg says the science isn’t settled. But the harms of short-form video on the brain are starting to show | Caty EndersRecent social media lawsuits have addressed concerns about mental health. But what about its cognitive effects?

Write down all the reasons somebody might need or want your services

Understanding why people might buy what you sell can make it easier to market yourself.

Write down up to three services you offer – be specific. If you offer copywriting, choose a specific type of copy (e.g. website copy). If you only offer one service, even better.

Now write down all the reasons people might want or need that service. Again, be specific.

So, for example, for my 90-minute consultations, I might write:

• * Confused about what marketing they should do

• * Struggling to attract any clients

• * Don’t know what to write about on social media

• * Want to improve their website copy

• * Are planning a new website and writing their own copy

• * Need help coming up with a lead magnet and nurture emails

• * Thinking about starting a blog but don’t know how to get started

And so on – I could list 100 or more, but I’m going to stop there because now it is your turn.

Write down as many reasons as you can think of for why someone might want your help.

bed rig

pans

grimy mun

bib cager

exam he’s told

I'll pop the answers in the comments next week. In the meantime, let me know how you got on.

Time track for the next four weeks

We’re in the final part of the year, so it’s time to start thinking about how we can make next year even better.

To do that, we need a clear idea of how we’re spending our time, so we know what we need to start doing, stop doing, do more of or get help with.

So this week’s 10-minute task is actually a four-week task, but it’s very easy. All I want you to do is note down how much time you spend on business-related activities each day for the next four weeks.

You can write it in your diary, on a spreadsheet, in a Word doc, on a Trello board – whatever works for you. Add to it throughout the day or complete it at the end of each day.

It doesn’t have to be detailed. Something like this is fine:

• 30 mins – LinkedIn (unpaid)

• 120 mins - client work (paid)

• 15 mins – reading/sending/replying to emails (unpaid)

• 15 mins - prep for call (unpaid)

• 45 mins - call with potential client (unpaid)

• 30 mins – create and send proposal (unpaid)

• 120 mins – client work (paid)

• 15 mins – reading/sending/replying to emails (unpaid)

At the end of each week, tot up how long you spend on each activity and how much of your time is spent doing unpaid work versus paid work.

Do this for four weeks.

I also want you to note down any leads you get (and where they come from). If you do any free calls or meetings with potential clients, note down which of these turn into paid business.

payment wort

airbed runway

hinting toll

drifty embedding’s news

ale pray vote

Review your August figures

This is something you should do at the end of every month to check whether your marketing and sales processes are working. So this week, I want you to answer the following questions for the month of August:

🎯How many enquiries did you get?

🎯How many of those enquiries were good enquiries (work you actually want)?

🎯How many of your total enquiries converted into paying clients?

🎯What was your total invoice amount for the month?

🎯How many hours did you work?

Looking at these figures can help you figure out what needs to change. If you got lots of enquiries but only a small percentage were good, then your marketing isn't attracting the right people.

If you got a lot of good enquiries but not many converted into clients, your sales process needs work.

If you worked more hours than you wanted and didn't earn as much as you wanted, then your prices need to go up.

What will you do differently next month? Let me know.

This week's anagrams are all characters from the Marvel Universe:

inn roam

da poodle

evil owner

armed spin

blank chapter

How many can you get? I'll share the answers in the comments next week.

Update and refresh an old blog post

Last week, the task was to create a list of all your evergreen content.

For this week's task, I want you to take one of your old blog posts and update it.

​​Have any of the stats changed?

Are there any industry updates you can add?

Have you changed your opinion on anything in the post?

Have you learned anything new since you wrote it?

Can you offer any additional insight?

How can you improve the post to add even more value? 

This week's anagrams are all ice cream flavours:

all vain

am drain ruins

chic chomp nit

maniacs recooked

alps berry ripper

How many did you get? Comment below. Answers will be shared next week.

This week's anagrams are all English seaside towns

block opal

kegs sens

mayor retaught

cog harbours

que yawn

How many did you get? Comment below. I'll share the answers next week.

Do a content audit

I'm a big advocate of creating evergreen content - content that can be reused and repurposed over and over again. 

But the more content you create, the easier it is to lose track of what you already have, and old blog posts can be left to gather dust.

So this week, I want you to do a content audit. Take a look back through your old blog posts and videos and remind yourself of all the content you have available.

Create a document or spreadsheet with links to all your evergreen content. It doesn't have to be anything special - just the name of the blog post or video and the link, maybe a brief summary of what's covered if you need it. 

That way, you can easily access your content when you get asked a question on a topic you've already covered in detail.

sauciest

cam runes

ace ram

pap sorts

teach bowel 

How many did you get? Comment below. I'll share the answers next week.

Save all your best social media posts

One of the biggest mistakes I see freelancers make is thinking they have to come up with new content for social media every day. You don't. 

It's perfectly fine to share the same social posts multiple times - I do it all the time.

So this week's task is to set up a Word doc/spreadsheet/Trello board (or whatever works for you) to keep all your best social posts together. 

These can be the most popular, the ones that add the most value for your audience, the ones that showcase your expertise and the ones that do the best job of promoting your products and services.

Once you have collated them all, you have a selection of posts you can copy and paste from when you are stuck for new ideas or are short on time. 

Top tip: If you use LinkedIn, you can export all your posts into a spreadsheet - here's how:  Download your account data | LinkedIn Help (to get all your posts, select the "download larger data archive" option).