Repurpose a piece of content

I'm a big fan of reusing and repurposing old content, and one of the great things about longer blog posts is they can be broken down into bite-sized social media posts.

Posts that cover 10 tips, 10 mistakes, 10 excuses, 10 reasons, 10 benefits etc. are great for splitting down into smaller pieces of content (and it doesn't have to be 10 - any number will work).

So this week's task is to go back through some of your old blog posts and find one you can split down into smaller pieces of content.

If you don't have a blog, transcribe a video or podcast and repurpose it for social media.

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Set yourself a personal challenge

Set yourself a small personal challenge to complete before the end of the year.

It could be to do something you’ve never done before, like entering a poetry competition or speaking in public.

It could be something that makes you nervous, like sharing a video of yourself on social media or attending a networking event.

It could be physical, like running 5k or cycling 20 miles.

It can be anything, but it has to be a challenge, and it has to be realistic.

Let me know what challenge you’ve set. 

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Let me know how you get on in the comments, and I'll share the answers next week.

Review how you spend your time

Four weeks ago, I set you the task of tracking your time each day.

Now it’s time to review your activity.

It’s likely the majority of your time was spent on billable client work. But what about the rest of your time?

How much time do you spend on marketing activities – did these activities generate any leads? Which activities generated the most leads? How many of these leads turned into work? 

How much time did you spend on free calls or in meetings with prospective clients? How many of these calls or meetings converted into paying work?

Are there any tasks you could automate? Any tasks you need to start charging for (or increase your pricing on)? Are you giving too much time to prospective clients who never convert – how can you cut this down?

Ideally, you want to spend more time on tasks that generate leads or a profit and less time on tasks that don’t.

If you didn't track your time, do it for the next four weeks and then review your activity.

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Let me know below how many you solved, and I'll share the answers in the comments next week.

Review your last quarter
We're three quarters of the way through the year - how are you getting on?
Are you on track to meet your goals for the year?
Review the following for the last three months

• 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 quarter?

• How many clients did you retain and how many dropped off?

• Did you invest as much time into marketing, business development and personal development as you planned?

Write down three things that you will:

• Start doing

• Stop doing

• Continue doing

You can keep it specific – for example, all related to marketing, or you can go broad.

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Answers will be revealed next week. In the meantime, let me know how you got on in the comments.

Turn a case study into a social media post

Think about the last client you worked with.

• Why did they come to you - what problems were they experiencing?

• What did you do for them?

• What outcomes did you deliver?

  Now turn this case study into a social media post.

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

"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."

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.

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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.

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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.