116. Radical Candor: How we are confronting our content blind spots

[00:00:00 - 00:02:18]If you've been following the format of this podcast, you might know that we do it in pretty much three part series, right? We have an expert guest talk specifically through a strategy that works to win the content game. We go ahead and we implement it on the second episode in the series, and then we have them come back on to talk through any struggles or blockers that we ran into. And right now, we are in a three part series with Dennis Yu from Blitz Metric, and he's talking us through his dollar a day ad strategy. And this is the third episode, but we changed things up a little bit with this episode because we got some really, I'm gonna call it potent feedback from Dennis as he was going through our content. Some, let's call it very constructive feedback. And that's actually what I wanted to cover in today's episode because it is radical candour and transparency time. A time for us to step back from the hamster wheel of what it is that we're doing and critically evaluate our content based on some very, very objective feedback. So we're going to talk. You talk to you about some content mistakes that we've been making that we honestly needed an objective third party to point out to us and what we're going to be doing, going forward to actually make it, like, ten times better. And I hope you listen to this and take it as permission yourself to do the same thing, make mistakes, learn from them, and just get better, which is actually our real jobs as entrepreneurs. My name is Deidre Tshien and co founder of Capsho, the fastest way to create content that gets you clients. And this is win the content game. Okay, so just to set some context about how this whole episode came about, Bona and I hopped on our second call with Dennis Yu from Blitz Metrics to talk. And we were like, we were pumped, right? I was pumped about this call because it was designed, literally designed for him to take us through, step by step the implementation of his dollar day ad strategy, which Eisenside was awesome. And we'll link that because we're going to post on YouTube. So we're going to post his, literally, him going and talking Bona through each of the steps to take. He's like, press that button and. No, not that one. And go to this, you know, scroll down. Yeah, so we're going to link that YouTube video to the show notes, if you go there. But anyway, so we hop on this call, and I thought it was going great. It was going great.

[00:02:18 - 00:02:20]Yeah, it started well until.

[00:02:21 - 00:02:40]Until we started to get deep into the metrics and what it actually takes for this strategy to work, because while Dennis did take us really effectively through what we have to do, like, with all the things. And unfortunately, what we learned was that you can't quite polish a turd. I'm pretty sure he used those words, too. Right.

[00:02:40 - 00:02:42]At this point, I was already blanking out. I was blanking out.

[00:02:42 - 00:02:58]I love to rid of something important. Just like, you can't boost content that isn't working as effectively as you may have thought, as we definitely thought. You can't polish a third right turd. Right. Like, so that's kind of how it works. And so we had a little bit of a reckoning, didn't we?

[00:02:58 - 00:03:03]Yep. Live record while it was being recorded. Yeah, exactly. An existential crisis, if you will.

[00:03:03 - 00:03:18]Yes. And I think we're gonna. We should probably just clip and do a montage of just those moments. Cause you should just see, like, our face, I think. I don't know. I was kind of, like, really just wrapped up in what he was in, like, what was. What was happening. But I don't know if your face betrayed any of your thoughts of life.

[00:03:18 - 00:03:26]Well, Dennis gave us a compliment that I think we were the smiliest people who had given, you know, given feedback, too. So there's that. There's that win. I think we're all just nervously smiling.

[00:03:26 - 00:03:31]Yes. Okay, so let's first listen to some of the constructive.

[00:03:31 - 00:03:35]Do we have to feedback. We should share it with everyone.

[00:03:35 - 00:03:43]Yeah. That we received on some of our content. Okay, so there was this. There was this that Dennis said about one of our social media posts.

[00:03:43 - 00:03:56]So you're telling kind of a story, but there's. It also has a few too many emojis, and it looks like someone's trying to write ad copy when there's a lot of emojis like that. Right. Or it looks like they're using AI when there's a lot of emojis. You could boost it. But I think. I mean, we could test it. We could just test it. What's the worst case?

[00:03:56 - 00:03:57]Right?

[00:03:57 - 00:03:58]We just find out what happens. We learn.

[00:03:58 - 00:04:00]And then there's this.

[00:04:00 - 00:04:14]It's like, for some reason, you're not getting shares on your posts. I think it's because you're not going deep enough on some of the content. And there's nothing wrong with lightweight content. It's great posting lots of lightweight content like you have here, but some of the posts need to be a little deeper. Right? A little more meat, if you know what I mean.

[00:04:14 - 00:04:23]Oh, gosh, did that. Did you feel that really nice and lovely tickling burn, given the way Dennis delivered that as well?

[00:04:23 - 00:04:33]It's kind of like. It's more of the. It's like an ice. You know how ice burns you? It's so cold, and then you feel the burn. You're like, oh, my gosh. I think I'm losing my entire body. My soul is leaving.

[00:04:33 - 00:04:36]This one is probably the next one's probably one of my favorites. Then there was this.

[00:04:36 - 00:04:39]So it looks a little douchey if you're boosting your own stuff.

[00:04:40 - 00:04:40]Okay.

[00:04:40 - 00:04:42]What does it feel like to be a bro marketer?

[00:04:42 - 00:04:49]Well, I was gonna throw you under the bus bottom, because I was gonna say that you helped draft some of this content. I had nothing to do with it.

[00:04:49 - 00:04:51]This is all Deirdre. This is forgetting the faith.

[00:04:52 - 00:04:53]Okay, now I see how this works.

[00:04:54 - 00:04:56]It's on this podcast. I don't know why I'm talking content.

[00:04:56 - 00:05:05]Okay, but let's talk. What was going through your mind when Dennis actually did mention some of these things or gave us some of this feedback? Well, I. You know.

[00:05:05 - 00:05:11]You know, I took personal umbrage to the emojis thing because I was like, wait, we did emojis before chat GPT.

[00:05:11 - 00:05:12]What are you talking about?

[00:05:12 - 00:05:59]So it really ruined it for us. We used to love our emojis. You know, all joking aside, I 100%. It's like one of those things, like you said, it's like a mirror being held up to you by, you know, a loving but very objective guide. And that's never pleasant because, you know, you want to kind of pat yourself on the back for being consistent with creating content and putting yourself out there and doing all of these things and sometimes hearing it back to say, well, it's not enough. It's a little bit hard to take, but as it was. But then, at the same time, it made a lot of sense, I think, because even if we weren't necessarily just, like, phoning it in or just being really super non intentional, I think there's a ceiling that you hit sometimes with these things where you're like, okay, well, we've got 27 things to do, and then this thing at least feels like we've got a bit of muscle built there already. Now we kind of can go through the motions a little bit.

[00:05:59 - 00:05:59]Yeah.

[00:05:59 - 00:06:25]And I think, for me, what the resonant point was just to say that it's not like it has performed poorly where we're like, oh, gosh, that got absolutely no engagement. We need to relook at it. It had enough. And I think sometimes in the content creation world, especially, can be like, you're guilty of probably doing enough. Yeah. And so that's the part where we're like, okay, well, enough isn't good enough, if that makes sense. And that's a really difficult pill to swallow sometimes because a lot of, like.

[00:06:25 - 00:06:26]But what about this?

[00:06:26 - 00:06:36]And what about that comes up? But it's like, no, like, if you. This is the core of what we're doing here, and our audience, you know, deserves more or better at least, you know?

[00:06:36 - 00:06:42]Oh, man. Yeah, it was. It was a little bit of like a punch in the gut because, you know, we talk about, I mean, this whole podcast is about winning the content game.

[00:06:42 - 00:06:43]Yeah.

[00:06:43 - 00:06:51]And we're the last to say that we are winning it. Or what does winning mean? And look like, I think, is also the other thing that we have to really break down.

[00:06:51 - 00:06:51]Yes.

[00:06:51 - 00:07:44]Because everything happens. Like, there were so many things that were going through our mind. So I'm going to try to articulate this in a way that hopefully, like, people can follow. But there are so many layers to this, I think, you know, first of all, in winning any kind of game, and we link this to sports a lot with, you know, especially if you've been listening or watching to players only, which is Ash and Bona's spin off podcast, you know, players only. It was called that because it was like, hey, this is a discussion that we're gonna have as players only in the locker room. Right? Like, whereas this podcast, when the content game is kind of, like, think about it as, like, the coaching staff, as the people strategizing and going, okay, well, this is the. Literally, like, the strategy or the plays that we're gonna. Yeah, we're gonna train and hit in order to win, but that doesn't mean that we win 100% of the time. Like, that's actually, like, almost impossible.

[00:07:44 - 00:07:45]Right? Yeah.

[00:07:45 - 00:08:37]And so winning the content game, so much of it is about showing up is the first thing. And I think that, you know, because we get told that so much, which is not wrong, by the way. And so I don't want to downplay all of the amazing people who are just spreading the word of, like, just show up, just go live, just put content out there. Like, it. Just get going. Right. Because that is actually the first thing you, like. There's no point. You can't win a game if you don't get onto the field. Right. So 100%, that is, like, the most important step. But I think that sometimes we to your point about, well, is that enough? Like, if I just get onto the field, that's me playing, right? That's enough. And it's kind of not then, you know, once you get through that, then what's the next step up that you need to take? What's the next level up?

[00:08:37 - 00:08:37]Yeah.

[00:08:37 - 00:08:40]And the next level up might just be like, okay, well, just now be consistent.

[00:08:41 - 00:08:41]Yes.

[00:08:41 - 00:08:48]Just make sure you publish every day, for example, which is, I would say, pretty much the space that we were in.

[00:08:48 - 00:08:48]Yep.

[00:08:48 - 00:09:23]That we have been in. And that because we've been also been trying to systemize it and things like that. So that was a muscle that we were building, was like, okay, let's a. We've shown up. Awesome. Now let's be consistent at showing up and, you know, kicking the ball the right way. I don't know if that's, you know. But now I think the great thing about getting Dennis's feedback, even though it was hard as you, it was a hard pill to swallow. But this is now us going, okay, well, it's time for us now to level up. And it's easy to forget that that is that we do need to keep doing that.

[00:09:23 - 00:09:24]Yes.

[00:09:24 - 00:10:03]You know, a lot of times, we can be maybe more guilty of going, oh, well, now we're being consistent. We're getting good enough feedback and engagement. Let's now go on x. Let's now go on instagram. Let's now go on. Let's now spread ourselves more, rather than going, actually, how do we level up and go deeper into the content that we're already creating? And so, yeah, it was actually a really, really great wake up call for us as players as well in this game to go, oh, we need to do it. Like, we talk about this all the time, but, you know, sometimes it's hard to be objective to your own, to what's happening in your own.

[00:10:03 - 00:10:05]Absolutely world. Yeah.

[00:10:05 - 00:10:09]And we needed someone to objectively be like, hey, guys, you know, level up there.

[00:10:09 - 00:10:54]Yeah, I think that was what was good about it, too. Like you said, like, it is. It's data driven. It's not just someone deciding to hop on and audit our counters out. And really, like, this post, I don't think you did this with this post. It is based on data. The data is telling us was the first thing that I thought was like, okay, well, that's why it's a mirror. It's not, you know, someone's opinion on it. It's what the data is telling you. And the second thing is the goal posts don't really change. So what I loved about what Dennis said was like, because I think entrepreneurs can also be guilty of this, where it's like, oh, okay, the goal is to boost. Now what do I need to do to create content that's boostable? And it's like, no, the goal is still the same, which is to add value, because engagement, quality engagement is a sign of people saying, wow, this feels really. I identify with this content. You know, I love what this person is saying.

[00:10:54 - 00:10:54]Right.

[00:10:54 - 00:11:04]So the goal doesn't change because. And that's where I think some people can go wrong, especially around paid advertising and things like that. You're just leaning into the tactics and what's working.

[00:11:04 - 00:11:04]Yeah.

[00:11:04 - 00:11:09]And it's like, no, it's just about, to your point, doing what you're doing, but doing it at a higher level and going deeper.

[00:11:09 - 00:11:10]Yes.

[00:11:10 - 00:11:33]And again, it's so simple that you're like, you can't hide behind the complexities of the tactics. It's like you just have to look into yourself, make a decision every single day with every piece of content. You know, even going back to what I think previous guests on this podcast have said, all of this is the same thing, is like, does every single piece of content you're putting out there serve someone and add value? And if you can't handle your heart, say that, then why are you publishing it?

[00:11:33 - 00:11:34]Yeah. Right.

[00:11:34 - 00:11:37]So I think that's really the part that we have to hold onto for this.

[00:11:37 - 00:11:58]Okay. So what I want to do is we're going to take a quick ad break, and then when we're back, I want to talk through some of the things that we are going to start to implement and the shifts, essentially, that we're going to be making in our content based on this feedback and knowing that we need to level up. So hang with us because we are going to get into how we're going to now really win the content game. All right.

[00:11:58 - 00:11:59]Okay.

[00:11:59 - 00:12:47]So we've put some aloe on the burns that we've been feeling. Yeah. We're recovering and I want to talk through, kind of based on the feedback that we've been getting and us critically looking at some of the content that we're creating, what are some of the shifts that we're going to make now? The first thing that I do want to say is that the strategy that we've been talking about this whole time, Katie Brinkley's for post social media strategy, which is what we use still, is the overall game plan from a social media perspective, that does not change. Okay. Using Capsho 100% does not change because like, it is literally the basis of the good stuff that we create. But how we then probably think about the edits that we need to make to it, how we need to think about especially. And I want to go, should we go post by post maybe?

[00:12:47 - 00:12:48]Sure.

[00:12:48 - 00:12:57]Post. Yeah, we'll go post by post type, but there is definitely two. I would say that we can start to actually, you know, go like, think a little bit differently about.

[00:12:57 - 00:12:58]Yes, but we'll get there.

[00:12:58 - 00:13:34]So let's start with maybe the awareness. So if you remember from Katie Brinkley's four post social media strategy, there's four posts. It's awareness tip, community and an action post. And by the way, Capsho NextGen literally creates these for you, at least a first draft. Okay, so we're going to talk about from first draft how we're going to put our human flavor onto those posts to really make them so compelling that people will want to share them. People will want to engage the right people, by the way, that then it's like, it's a no brainer to boost these posts if we're talking about the dollar day ad strategy.

[00:13:34 - 00:14:39]Yep. So I think with the awareness post, there probably isn't a whole, because this is part of it, too, to see what's working well, fit for purpose. And, you know, our awareness posts do generally pretty well. Again, the more I think we can grow our audience now through things like the dollar day strategy, this will just be a really great way for them to get involved in the conversation. And given that awareness posts visually, how they, you know, normally they're like a visually written hook, if that makes sense. So on LinkedIn, their polls on Facebook, they are, you know, just those colored background ones. Dennis, to say they're probably not the most boostable posts by way of. But that's totally okay. So I think we'll continue to do what we're doing, trying to stay true to our principles, to make them really granular, easy to engage with, and they can almost more of a nurturing audience style post. There are times, I think, that we still kind of miss the mark on them because we're being too general or, you know, we're asking the question, maybe not in an easy way. So I think it's just, again there. I think it's just building the muscle, continue doing what we're doing and just staying consistent with those, and continue to send our email list to those posts as well so we can get more, you know, sort of like visibility with our existing audience, which then will amplify it to other, other people as well on the platform.

[00:14:39 - 00:14:55]Yes, I think that's right. So the awareness post is this is designed to be on the simpler side. So definitely try not to overthink it too much. Just keep it super simple. And as Bona said, like the more specific that you can get in there, the better. So I think that's probably what we're going to keep doing.

[00:14:55 - 00:14:56]Keep trying that. Yeah.

[00:14:56 - 00:15:06]Okay. So then I think the two posts that comes next, which is the tip and community, are probably the ones that we can ourselves personally level up in. Let's talk about the tip one first.

[00:15:06 - 00:16:08]Yeah. So the tip one, just as a recap, is where you share a tip or you elaborate on the topic that you introduce in your awareness post. So Katie obviously has shared this in detail. So for us, I think the main thing would hear that, you know, in terms of feedback that we got is that we need to. I think there's a couple of things we need to because I think we've got very good topic selection in terms of what, you know, we choose to talk about. But with the tip post, the whole purpose of it is to position you as an expert. And really what that comes down to is specificity of perspective. And it's not just having an opinion for the sake of it, but on that topic, like, what is your unique take on it? And we, and clearly you have a unique take on all of the topics, but I think it's just making sure that that translates on the page of the phone device that people are reading it on. Right. So, which requires us to go a layer deeper in terms of the words that we're using, maybe the formats in which we're doing it, because then when that happens, it actually entices people obviously, to engage with it, but more importantly, ultimately share it like you were just talking about.

[00:16:08 - 00:17:00]Yeah, and this is an interesting one because again, like a lot of podcasters, and even if you're, if you do, YouTube would probably have guests. And I think a lot of us can be guilty. I know I definitely can, of leaning on the guests expertise and just kind of like phoning it in from that perspective to be like, here's the tip, here's a value. My guest said, xyz cool. But I think what you're saying there is really, really important, and this is, again, AI cannot do this for you. It is actually more so starting, or I would say start with your take on what your guest said because that is still value. Like that is still a tip that you're providing or that you're elaborating. If it's an elaboration by way of going deeper into the problem, then it's like, what is your take or perspective first, and then talk about what your guess, which may be aligned or may not be aligned to what it is that your perspective is.

[00:17:01 - 00:17:11]Absolutely. I think that's a really great way to utilize or still respect the content of your guests. But like you said, because your expertise may come from implementing what they're saying or your expertise may be adjacent to theirs.

[00:17:12 - 00:17:12]Right.

[00:17:12 - 00:17:30]And it just adds on to what they're saying. So that's absolutely true. Do not shy away from that. And to your point, like, sometimes shying away from it may not even have anything to do with you feeling like you're gonna, you know, it's just, again, I don't say laziness by way of, like, being lazy and they're not caring about your content, but again, it's just a structure that works.

[00:17:30 - 00:17:30]Yeah.

[00:17:30 - 00:17:41]And then you forget about the actual aim of that content, which is not just to celebrate your guest, but to actually add value and, you know, share your perspective as well.

[00:17:41 - 00:17:52]Yes, exactly. Because when you think about your audience, like, that's actually what they care about. They actually want to hear your perspective. They actually want to know what it is that you think. So that's probably something that we will need to tweak.

[00:17:52 - 00:19:08]Totally. Yeah. And in terms of. I think then with that comes the format, too. So, you know, and all of these things, like, you know, Dennis, we were talking to him about this, asking for all these tips, and then some of the things he said. I was like, hang on a minute. I don't like. I'm a human, too. This is how I like to consume content. So this is just logic, you know, common sense. And he's like, yeah, a lot of marketers forget promise, and sometimes I'm like, oh, I'm guilty of that. And, you know, so it's kind of like with the tip, because I think we can. Because, you know, you're trying to write out these perspectives. You're trying to add value, and it just, again, you can get into a rut of just, like, writing out the post. So a couple of things we've already started experimenting with is to, you know, kind of share images that share the content and into kind of like a carousel style, and people want to swipe. And again, it's a more shareable format as well. Now, that's not to say that that's going to work every single time, but going back to being a bit more experimental with the format as well, regardless of whether it works or not. Again, you're training your brain to work in a different way as well, and it forces you to think about the end reader more as well. So that's the other thing we've already tried, and we got our first couple of shares, which we celebrated this week. So again, it works. But that's, again, the key here is not to go. Okay, cool. Those things work. That's what I'm going to do for the rest of eternity. Right. It's not giving into that, I don't know, that kind of tendency to just systemize and move on.

[00:19:08 - 00:20:12]I want to come back to the system thing. Cause I. Yeah, I definitely have some thoughts on this, especially as we go through our journey. I've always struggled with this, but I want to come back to it maybe when we cap off the next two posts. Let's talk about systems and how they play their own role in what it is that we're doing. It's a tough balance by showing up for the game. Okay, so then. So let's talk about the community post. Now, this is a, this is a, like the one that I think is gonna be the most impacted by what it is that we talk about. Because the community posts, even the way that Capsho does it. Because, again, literally AI cannot draft this for you because it is going to be about specifically you, like, whether that's your memories or your life or your perspective or AI cannot do that. So what we do with what Capsho does is it actually just gives you some thought starters, some ideas, which is a great start, but, you know, you have to write it yourself at the end of the day. Right. So how we sign and think about that community post a little bit differently.

[00:20:12 - 00:21:28]Yeah. So I think we have a good starting point. Like, with all things where we're like, okay, generally our community posts can take the angle of, like, you and your story, you know, our partners or our community, our captcha vins, who we serve. So those are. I think those remain really great starting points. Now, I think for us here, this was when Dennis looked at our community post because we were like, look at our. Look at our high performing community post. All this engagement was really the key piece of feedback, which I think we sort of probably already knew, was that we need to go deeper. Right. And then, you know, and this is such a great post that naturally lends itself to that. Right. But at the same time, there's also sometimes a bit of a vulnerability hangover that can come from it. If it's a more serious topic, it just takes that extra bit of cognitive effort to sit down and be like, let me tease this out, even if it is you sharing a memory or something. Again, you have to, like, think about how you want to say it and. And things like that. So just take that extra bit of effort. This one can be easy to phone in, too, because you can just tag if it is a, you know, like the Katie example we showed in the previous episode. It's a fun one to do when you just kind of, like, tag your guests or tag, you know, your partners or whoever to say, yeah, thanks for being part of the community. I love my community. Yeah, it's a relatively. It can be easy in that sense. And then again, you get the. You get the immediate engagement, and you're like, again, it's good enough. It feels like, yeah, it's creating a vibe. Right?

[00:21:28 - 00:21:29]Yeah.

[00:21:29 - 00:22:18]But it's like, at the end of the day, is it taking that step to going back to what Dennis was talking about, shareability, like, give people a sense of identity, whether that is affirming an identity they already know and hold very dear or an identity that they're looking for that says, oh, okay, I relate to that on a human level. Like, who is this person? Or, I know this person already. Gosh, this is why I love following her. Right. Is it doing that? Or maybe it's stirring something else inside them, but there's that emotional element to it and doesn't always have to be a deep or, like, whatever emotion. I think one of the things that we do really well is we make people laugh, we entertain people, but I think, again, everyone just leans on their strengths a little bit too much, I think. So that's what we do, and that's easy for us to do, which leads to a lot of, like, lightweight content, as Dennis calls it. A nice way to call a shallow.

[00:22:18 - 00:22:19]No.

[00:22:20 - 00:22:55]You know, again, but that's important because that's also part of your personality and the brand personality. But we know that there is more to it than that, but we kind of don't really bring that to the fore. So this one's going to be an interesting one because I think it's just taking that extra bit of time and effort to go deeper. Doesn't necessarily have to mean longer pose, doesn't necessarily have to mean a serious pose. Doesn't mean you have to be dramatic with things. But I think we know what it means when they say, like, we have to go deeper on this versus just relying again on, you know, tagging people and, you know, kind of like doing a quick, sort of like hit quick hit content.

[00:22:55 - 00:27:31]Yeah. And I know that this is sounding like, why even bother? Why create content like this sounds like hard work. Can I just go do AI generated videos and hope that they go viral and things like that? And yes, you can. Right. But we're talking to, I mean, I guess we haven't really called this out, but I think by and large, our community, the people that are inside of capture club, even capture users who are probably likely listening to this, are creating content like they actually want to connect with their audience at a deeper level. They're not just looking to go viral for the sake of going viral. It is literally like, hey, I want my content to resonate because at the end of the day, I want clients. And this is actually the most powerful way to get clients a, to pay you, but then to stay is to actually connect with them at a deeper level. So even though it sounds like hard work and more and more, in this day and age, we're all about, like, the quick fix, easy. Just like it's unfortunate. Like, I just, it doesn't exist. Right. Like, that quick fix, that quick, easy win style stuff. Like, if you're in it for the long haul, if you are, if you're committed to your business and growing your business and actually serving your clients, like, we can't do any of this. I mean, we can speed it up with AI and that's what capture is designed to do. But there is going to be some thought if you want to play the game at the level that we're talking about in this episode. Like, if you just want to play the game at the level of, yep, I'm on the pitch and I'm just going to be consistent, then that's also totally, totally cool. Up to you. Right. But if you're like, you know, we take a lot of responsibility and pride, I guess, in, like, really wanting to truly win. We want to score the goals, not just what's the default of that. We don't want to just defend, for example, and try to win that way. I mean, we need to defend as well, but we actually want to attack and we actually want to truly win on our merits. Right. And so that's why we do take the time to try to go, okay, well, how do we actually make this better and better and better? And as we do, then obviously that gets fed into the capture as a product as well, which is a cool thing. Like, we. We do. We do the things first, and then, you know, we. We do productize it. So anything you want to add on that point? Okay, that's it. I want to come back to systems. Cause that's. This has been on my mind like, I do. You know, we. Again, we get told. I feel like I've said that so many times in this episode. We get told by all of the gurus that we just need to, like, systemize everything. Hand it off. It's the who not how premise. It's the, like, literally every scale coach or consult or whatever, like, this is key, right? Systemize it. Create the. All of the sops and blah, blah, blah. And then. So that you can hand it off. Which is correct to an extent. But I want to talk about this because the danger with staying really true to that is kind of twofold. One is when you believe that you've systemized something. At least this has been my experience. It's one of those things that then you, like, you can then free up that space in your brain, which is what it's designed to do. But that also means that you forget about it. So it's not top of mind. So that's the one thing. The second thing is that systems, in the way that they're currently defined, which is like, here is a step by step in the checklist, and et cetera, is very inflexible. And this is the part that I actually do have a problem with, because, again, when we're creating content and a lot of us might have vas and we have teams that we've created a system around the content and how we use capture, et cetera. And then it's like, here, Va or team member, go ahead and implement it, and here's the checklist and just tick these things off, that is essentially us phoning it in. Right. And it becomes very inflexible, because as long as it happens, as long as the thing gets published, then that's the good thing. Okay, so that is us literally, again, if we're talking about the analogy, that's us getting onto the pitch and just turning up each game. Every game. Right? Consistency. Awesome. But the issue that I have with systems like that is that it doesn't actually allow for that level up. And so I've been really thinking about, you know, and we've been doing a lot of work, even on the business, like, the capture side of, like, how do we create systems that are effective for us to not let things fall through the gaps, but to also, I think, put in enough flexibility and autonomy to actually help us get better results and to reach higher. And so this is just something. I wasn't even planned to talk about this on this episode, to be honest.

[00:27:31 - 00:27:33]But I really want to. Yeah, this is very topical for me. Yeah.

[00:27:33 - 00:27:50]And. And so I think it's. For me. I don't know about you for you, Bona. But, like, what I'm finding is, like, at least just putting in more, like, questions, maybe to be like, have you thought about this? Like, maybe that's the checklist thing, you know, has this been thought about rather than do this thing?

[00:27:50 - 00:27:52]Yeah, because that's a definitive step.

[00:27:52 - 00:27:56]Right. Like, I think that has probably been more helpful in creating our systems than.

[00:27:57 - 00:29:11]Absolutely. I couldn't agree more, because I think, you know, even if you don't have a va or you don't, where you don't use your team to do this part of it, like you said, in terms of how our brain works, systemization, you're still doing it, but it could. It could go into, like, the lower part of your brain. I don't know what the right terminology for that would be. And then it's, again, having the same impact. But I agree with that because even for this specific topic, as Dennis was talking about it, you know, he's had a thousand people say to him, why don't you just create software that, you know, identifies the 10% and automatically boosts. And he's like, I could. That's super easy to do, but, you know, you need a human to do this step to ask those questions and make that human judgment. But you can still systemize it rather than trying to remember the question each time to your point. It's just maybe reframing your sops as a question rather than a definitive step to say instead of calculate 10%, it's like, what are the questions and considerations you need to make at that point? Yeah, I think same thing for us. We're not necessarily delegating content creation, but when we meet for our content planning sessions, rather than going, okay, let's. Have you got the community post. You know, it's more like, okay, how might we elevate this to something that feels a little bit uncomfortable for you? That could be the question every week, and just you systemize getting uncomfortable in a way, but you're asking the question as opposed to saying, okay, now let's just phone in what uncomfortable is or what vulnerability is or what community is.

[00:29:11 - 00:29:17]Yeah, that's actually really. Yeah. So let's make sure we put those in our system, and you're like, oh.

[00:29:17 - 00:29:18]Don'T ask me these questions.

[00:29:18 - 00:30:17]We're systemizing it. Put it on the pod. We got to do it. Oh, rand doing this to myself. Okay. Anyway, so I just wanted to. I don't want to go on about all of this stuff too, too much. But I hope that everyone's kind of, like, getting the purpose of what it is that we're trying to talk about today. And I just like, everything that we implement is by layers, and it is literally a constant level up, because sometimes you talk about uncomfortableness. Like, I get in my head about the fact that I'm like, well, but I'm meant to. I'm talking about winning the content game. Aren't I meant to be winning already? Why do I feel like I'm losing all of a sudden? And honestly, this is just part and parcel of, there is no perfect right. If you're trying to find the perfect expert or the perfect guru, they're probably scamming you. Let's just be honest, right? Like, that's just. It doesn't exist. Like, you know, things change. Like, platforms change, systems change, for example. Like, things change all the time. I think, you know, it's good to get into the uncomfortableness of being like, oh, man, we're actually not winning when we thought we were like, let's go back to the drawing board and.

[00:30:17 - 00:30:18]Yep.

[00:30:18 - 00:30:41]Do we need to draw up a different game plan, or do we need to, you know, do different training exercises in our, like, what is the thing that was going to actually get us back to winning the content game? And so I want to just remind everyone that even though this was definitely a self reflection, like, I would highly encourage you to reflect as well on where you're at in your content creation. And it's okay. Like, if you're just literally, like, I just want to show up on the pitch right now.

[00:30:41 - 00:30:42]Yeah, that's enough.

[00:30:42 - 00:30:44]That is totally cool.

[00:30:44 - 00:30:46]That's still step one, but maybe even.

[00:30:46 - 00:31:28]Like, again, create a system. Diarize it in a month's time, two months time, three months time to just check in with yourself to be like, okay, I've been consistently showing up to the pitch. Is it time for me to level up? And then what does that level up look like? And if you join capture club, then we can help you with that, determine what that is. But, you know, you generally, more often than not, will need someone objective to kind of like, look at what. What is it you're doing? Go. Oh, okay. This is now the next step for you to take and really focus on. So it's okay. It is totally okay. Wherever you are in your journey. That's what I'm telling myself. Totally. Okay. Deirdre. To, like, you know, not be where you thought you were, where you want to be.

[00:31:28 - 00:31:29]Right.

[00:31:29 - 00:31:37]Right. It's okay. It's like, let's take stock and let's work out. Okay. What do we just need to keep training now to get to that point?

[00:31:37 - 00:31:38]Yep.

[00:31:38 - 00:31:58]So, please, this is not an exercise to beat ourselves up over it. It's just a really, really great exercise to remind us of what it is that we're doing here at the end of the day. Cool. All right. Well, I actually really enjoyed this. I was kind of a little bit nervous getting into this episode because I was like, oh, gosh, this is really going to make me uncomfortable, but I actually really enjoyed it. So thanks for joining us. My name's Deidre Tshien.

[00:31:58 - 00:31:59]I'm Bona Rai.

[00:31:59 - 00:32:43]This is win the content game. And as always, stay intelligently lazy. Hopping back in really quickly to let you know that if you actually want to follow our journey, like, literally behind the scenes of how we're implementing these things that we talk about. And, you know, I talked about some pretty deep things in this we talked about some pretty deep things in this episode. And so if you actually want to know how we're going about implementing and thinking it through, then I want to encourage you to listen to the Players only podcast. We will actually link that in the show notes. Go and listen to that. That's Ash and Bona from my team, who actually break down each week what worked, what didn't work, and what we're doing about it behind the scenes. So listen to that. Players only. That will be in the show notes.