How to create consistent content (and have fun doing so!)

"Stop creating free content!" I recently heard this sentence from a course creator.

I’ve noticed that some business gurus claim that creating free content is akin to a waste of time.

"It's better to create low-cost items, run ads, get people to buy and then nurture them in your emails," they say.

This method makes sense as a business owner because they are focusing their efforts mostly in activities which bring in the cold hard cash.

However I have a gut feeling that if you want to create a ‘legacy’ - in other words, a business which lasts decades - your life-changing content needs to exist somewhere : in your blog, your podcast or in your YouTube channel.

I still think content is king right now because before your clients bought your courses and programs, they likely

• have listened to your podcast eps before

• have been watching you on your IG stories

• watched your YouTube vids

That’s why I created ready-to-post high-engagement IG captions like these to help you stay consistent on IG whilst you focus on creating your signature course or program. At least you can tick one thing off your to-do list this month!

But we have to admit that creating consistent content is hard.

Hence, I'm sharing 5 strategies which have helped me stay consistent (on some platforms!) and have some fun whilst doing so.

Strategy 1: To create consistent content, honour your in-born talents and inclinations

What mode of content creation feels the easiest for you? Are you a natural-born writer, love talking into a mic or love being in front of the camera?

It's time we own our innate gifts and honour them.

If you are a natural writer, focus on writing emails, blog posts, IG captions. If you are a natural in front of the camera (I envy you!), focus on YouTube, IG stories and IG 'live'.

Video marketing is all the rage. But if you are a talented writer and have to force yourself to create videos every single time, chances are, you will not be consistent with your YouTube channel.

Or, you will start hating content creation!

Thus, it’s best to honour your inborn talents and then look out for courses which teach you how to make sales and get traffic with your talent.

For example, if you are a camera-loving person, you can purchase courses which teach you how to get sales with YouTube videos or IG stories.

Strategy 2: Don't tie too much expectations to every piece of content

We all know that in the business sense, every free content has to lead to a freebie, which leads to a funnel, which should lead to a sale.

I would also suggest that we create our content with joy and with the purpose of serving our audience.

Not every email we write has to have an intention to sell. Not every IG caption needs to promote something.

We can create content simply because it gives us some kind of satisfaction or joy.

To be practical, we do need to balance our 'fun' content with strategic content to get our business running.

But not every content has to be strategic because we may burn out if we only publish perfectly curated, perfectly strategised content! And where's the fun in that?

Strategy 3: Try a new tweak or two

To keep content creation fresh (and fun), try a new tactic or two.

If you see a celebrity coach you admire addressing you by your first name in her newsletters, you can try the same method if you have not done so.

Keep following other entrepreneurs you admire and observe how they create their videos, podcasts and emails. And try a new tactic or two to your content to keep the excitement going.

Note that these tweaks are supposed to be small tweaks.

I won't suggest that you do a complete overhaul of your sales funnel if it has been working well for you, unless you don't mind the risks ;)

Strategy 4: Keep reading, watching and consuming content to get ideas and inspiration

I've seen some coaches tell us not to consume other people's content so that we don't unintentionally 'copy' them.

I beg to differ because we do need to broaden our knowledge. I feel that we need to be reading books, taking courses, watching videos and listening to podcasts related to our coaching topic.

When we consume fresh, new content often, we will get 'aha' moments which we can share with our audience.

As an example: I notice that when I make time to read, I have a stream of ideas and topics to write about. I will write about them from my perspective, which makes my content 'me'.

Strategy 5: Outsource some of your content creation

Perhaps you simply don't have the time or energy to create free content.

If you have the means to hire someone to write blog posts, captions, video scripts for you, why not do so? You don’t have to feel guilty or embarrassed because every big-name coach or entrepreneur out there works with a team.

Or you can get my ready-to-post challenges like this one to get your Facebook group content done for you in a snap.

Creating consistent content can be fun if we bear these 5 strategies in mind.

I’m curious: what's your strategy to create consistent content?

Let me know in Comments or send me an email at shikah@shikahanuar.com

As always, wishing you much blessings and abundance in your business.

Shikah

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3 Mindset Shifts for Coaches and Entrepreneurs with Imposter Syndrome

I was urged to create this podcast episode after a new coach sent me an email saying that she had ‘imposter syndrome’ after reading my blog posts.

I had to stop her negative train of thought and quickly wrote an email reply to her.

I’ve always felt a strong drive to remind my audience of the unique value and the one-of-a-kind contributions they can make to their world.

Also, comparing our beginning to someone else’s middle is harsh on ourselves. The successful entrepreneurs we admire have failed, flopped and embarrassed themselves countless times before getting to where they are.

If you need a confidence boost and wish to feel good in your own skin, you will find this episode helpful.

If you prefer reading, you will find the episode’s transcript below for your convenience.

Take care,

Shikah

Full Transcript

Hi, I'm Shikah. Thank you for being here with me today. Today we're going to talk about Imposter Syndrome. And this is motivated by an email I received from one of my subscribers recently. So she was a new coach that time.

And what she did or what she emailed me was that she said, “I feel Imposter Syndrome whenever I compare my work with yours” She was telling me that she felt Imposter Syndrome when she compared her work with mine. So that was quite unfair on her because, well, at that time, I've had close to five years of counseling experience. I've been working with companies in public relations for a long time. I've been doing copywriting for a long time as well.

So she was comparing the beginning of her coaching journey with me - who has been counseling and doing copywriting and all those things for years. So that was quite, I would say, that was a little bit unkind on her. So I had to stop her and tell her that comparing her beginning to someone else's middle, is not going to be very helpful on her at all. It's going to just make her feel even less confident and make her feel even worse about herself. So that's what motivated me to create this podcast episode today.

The wonderful thing, or rather the tricky thing about Imposter Syndrome is that it can strike anyone. Whether you're a beginner or even though you've been doing business or doing something for ten years, Imposter Syndrome can still strike us, especially if you are offering something for the first time. So let's say you are rather experienced in your business and you're offering something for the first time. Let's say you're offering a mastermind for the first time, or you're creating a signature course for the first time, or offering a group coaching call for the first time. Sometimes you will face imposter syndrome.

You'll be wondering, Can I offer them the results that they want? Is my work valuable? Will they see the value in my work? And all those questions will start flooding our minds because we are doing something for the first time. And that's understandable.

So I'll give you about three tips for us to reduce our Imposter Syndrome and focus on our business. Okay? So the first tip I'm going to share is to be aware of our unique worth. So every one of us has a little spot in this world. So you are born with your own set of circumstances, your own viewpoints, your own way of seeing things, your own perspective, your own brand of authenticity and all that.

And nobody else in the world has the same energy or the same circumstances, or the same unique blend of circumstances and talents that you have. So it's good for us to focus on our unique strengths and our unique worth. So there is no one else like you or me in this world, right? So that's why many people or many coaches out there encourage us to be authentic. But I know that being authentic is not always easy.

Being vulnerable is not something that is very comfortable to do. So if you want to start being authentic, what we can do is - maybe - do it one step at a time. Start showing a bit of vulnerability to your audience, just a little bit at a time. And then once you get comfortable with yourself, who knows, maybe you'll be able to be 100% authentic with your audience. That will be quite nice, although they will require a lot of coverage, I would say.

And yes, I digress a little bit. So yes, point number one is to be focusing on your unique world and to realize that you have your own unique spot in this world and you have your own unique sets of talents and all that which you can offer and contribute to this world. And it's good for us to focus on serving our audience and serving our community instead of putting all our focus on ourselves.

So whenever you create a piece of content, maybe a blog post or a podcast episode or a video or anything like that, focus on serving your audience first and foremost. Think about how you can make this helpful for them.

Think about how you can change their lives with the little information that you're going to share. And always have your audience in your mind firsthand when you're creating content. So that will help you to reduce imposter syndrome a little bit because you're taking the spotlight away from you and you're focusing on your audience. That is one way I create content, and I think that allows me to be a bit more vulnerable in my email sometimes, in my blog post sometimes. All right, so if you have not subscribed to my email list yet, and if you want to get motivational emails from me, you can go to the show notes and subscribe if you want to.

So tip number two is to have a growth mindset. So having a growth mindset means being aware that if we are offering something for the first time, chances are we are going to flop, right? Our first video is going to suck. Our first podcast episode is not going to be perfect.

What else? Our first blog post is probably not going to be very structured, not going to be very SEO-friendly either. So it's not going to be perfect. The first piece of what we are putting out there is not going to be perfect. So we are going to have a growth mindset about this and realize that every mistake is an opportunity for us to learn.

So when you try something new and it flops, well, okay, that's all right. That means you can approach it in a different way or maybe you offer something else. And I know seven-figure coaches actually, who revealed that sometimes when they launched something for the first time - nobody bought it. And I know someone else who is also a digital marketing coach who told us that when he was holding in-person seminars for the first time before Covid, only seven people came and they were all his family members.

But he's a seven-figure coach right now. So you can see that everybody starts from zero. And having a growth mindset is really important. So it's not about giving up immediately when you don't see results, when you don't see the results that you want.

That means our business needs some tweaking. Maybe we need to have a different approach, a different way of doing things. And one way to get ideas about this is to focus, or rather to study the people that you admire in your industry. So if you are a coach I'm talking mostly to coaches, I believe. So if you are a coach or an entrepreneur, study the work of those other coaches or entrepreneurs that you admire.

Look at how they write their emails, look at how they structure their podcast episodes and things like that. So those will give you some ideas about how you can do your work and minimize imposter syndrome. Tip number three is to stop comparing yourself with other people. I know this is incredibly hard with Instagram and TikTok and all those social media platforms, but yes, we have to stop comparing ourselves with other people. As I mentioned earlier, we all have our own unique talents and unique perspectives and unique gifts that we can offer to the world.

So it's not fair to compare ourselves with other people. Sometimes when we purchase a course or when we follow a coach’s blueprint, you might realize that what works for her may not work for you. Right? Even though you may have paid, I don't know, $3,000 for a course or something like that, you might realize that after implementing some of the strategies, what works for her or him may not work for you. So that's the thing about staying true to your own voice.

Okay, in short, stop comparing yourself with other people. So, yes, there is no one perfect way to create a business or to run a business. People are running in many different combinations, if you realize.

For me, personally, I love writing emails, I love writing blog posts. And I'm just starting to get consistent - ‘starting’ is the keyword here - on my podcast. So this works for me. But not everybody loves writing. There are some people, some of you out there who hate writing, who hate doing emails, who hate writing blog posts, and who hate speaking into a mic.

Then you might have to approach your content differently. You might have to market your content differently. So that's why I say that sometimes what works for another person may not work for you. So you have to do a bit of trial and error sometimes. And yes, stop comparing yourself with other people out there.

Comparing your beginning with someone else's middle or comparing your middle with someone else's even further middle is not very fair on you.

Okay, so I think that's all I'm going to share today. I'm heading out right now and I hope that this show’s episode has been helpful to you in some way and I will see you in my next episode.

Bye!

Someone insults your business? Do this :)

I'm bewildered (and salute!) how people who can speak into their podcast mics for 30 minutes and beyond.

I speak for 10 minutes and my voice gets raspy. Ugh.

Nevertheless, I’ll still be creating podcast episodes to help you maneuver the ups and downs of running a coaching business and increase the minutes one episode at a time.

In my newest mini podcast episode, I'm addressing an issue which may not be a stranger to some of us: a 'friend' or a loved one throwing shade at our business or our beliefs.

In this mini podcast episode, I uncover:

• 2 possible reasons for someone throwing shade at you

• what I do to handle this in a way which offers me self-growth

If you prefer to listen to the episode on Spotify, click the link below:

Do you want me to answer a question that has been nagging at you whilst running your coaching business?

Drop me your questions below and I may answer them in my upcoming podcast episodes:

Thank you for appreciating my work and may you be blessed.

To your success and abundance,

Shikah

Done-for-you 'Overcome Negative Self-Talk' Masterclass (Slides, Script and Workbook included!)

I was attacked by a lot of negative self-talk whilst putting together this done-for-you Overcome Negative Self-Talk masterclass. (Ironic, yes?)

The self-critical devil in me went from ‘These slides are painfully plain and not beautiful enough,’ ‘This whole thing is shoddy work, Shikah’ to ‘This masterclass is not up to standard.’ And many more. 

Luckily, I have learnt how to observe my inner critic instead of getting emotionally tangled up with it whilst creating this editable masterclass!

If you want to teach this skill to your audience, see the FULL details of this done-for-you Overcome Negative Self-Talk masterclass to check out how it can earn you back your time and make extra income.

I've created this Done-for-you Overcome Negative Self Talk masterclass to help you save time + make money:

• Conduct a ‘live’ masterclass and charge for it

• Sell the replays over and over again!

• If you sell this as a masterclass for $47, you will need just THREE customers to make a profit

• You can pair this with group coaching or Voxer coaching to add more value + up your price

You will get:

• 54 power-packed slides which you can edit with Google Slides AND Canva

• A ready-to-read script!

• An accompanying workbook which you can brand with Canva

• ...an evergreen masterclass which you can sell for years to come!

I hope this offer helps you grow your coaching business + make a change to the world. 

Have questions? Just send me an email at shikah@shikahanuar.com

Take care and may you be blessed,

Shikah

TLDR: I’ve created a done-for-you Overcome Negative Self-Talk masterclass which you can conduct ‘live’ and sell its replays over and over again! I do raise my prices, thus get this at its lowest price right now :)

Free Mindset Coaching Exercise to help Your Audience Stop Self Critical Thoughts and Feel Less Anxious

You may come across clients or know people who have it all together, but are still critical of themselves.

You will notice that clients who are self-critical get anxious, stressed out or feel fearful pretty often.

I'm sharing a FREE 5-step exercise which helps your clients to create new, balanced thoughts to replace their self-critical thoughts. And feel calmer, in-control and empowered as a result.

You can download the FREE exercise below:

This free exercise is part of my done-for-you mindfulness course.

You can launch your own workshop + add an extra stream of income without all the hard work with this ready-to-launch workshop (well, why not?)

If you want to jump right in and download the FREE 5-Step Conquer Self-Critical Thoughts coaching tool to use with your clients, I’ll send it to your inbox.

Now, let's get back to this 5-Step Conquer Self-critical Thoughts exercise.

The rationale

Jumping from “I am a failure” to “I’m a success!” is too big a leap for many of us.

So in this exercise, we will not be creating ‘positive’ thoughts to replace the self-critical ones. We will be creating new balanced thoughts, which are believable.

I will share an exercise to challenge your clients’ unhelpful, self-critical thoughts. And create new, believable thoughts to replace them and help them feel calmer, less worried and less anxious.

If you prefer watching a video of this coaching technique instead of reading it here, you can click on my YouTube video below.

Step 1 of 5: Get your clients to write their most prevalent negative thought down

 Just focus on one thought for each exercise. For example:

“I am a failure who fails at everything she does - and this project is going to be the same.”

Step 2 of 5: Write down evidence which support that this negative thought is true.

This may sound counter intuitive. You may also realise that many of us will struggle trying to dig up evidence to support our negative thoughts.

This will remind us subconsciously that perhaps this thought is not 100% true after all.

Still using the example negative thought "I'm a failure..." from Step 1, an example for Step 2 can be:

“I never stay at any job for longer than a year. I tried to start a business, but I lost motivation halfway. I chose the wrong subject to major in, in college - should have chosen a major which will give me respect and a high-paying job.”

Step 3 of 5 : Write down evidence which prove this self-critical thought UNTRUE.

For example:

“I still managed to graduate from college, thus, I’m not a total failure. Colleagues have told me I am good at presentations. I have received feedback from clients that my work has helped them.”

The more evidence your clients can come up with, the better.

Step 4 of 5: Create new, balanced, thoughts - to replace the self-critical thought.

Step 4 requires your clients to be honest with themselves. The new thoughts have to be believable to them.

If the new thoughts do not resonate with them, create more new balanced thoughts until they feel good about themselves.

For example: “I am someone who is very idealistic and I jump into new projects with excitement and without doing proper research. That was why my side hustle failed in the past. I am someone who was unsure of my identity in the past. So I followed the ‘herd’ and studied a popular subject in college which I had no interest in. I was someone who was not used to following my passion. So I applied for jobs which were ‘respectable’ but I had no interest in. That was why I kept quitting jobs.”

As you can see, we are reframing their self-critical thoughts to become thoughts which are more fair, kinder to their circumstances and objective in nature.

Step 5 of 5: Get your clients to write how they feel before and after this exercise.

For example:

“Before this exercise, I felt:

• Helpless

• Anxious

• A little depressed about my life

After this exercise, I feel:

• Empowered

• Hopeful

• Calmer”

In Step 5, you can see that there should be a shift in their emotional state after this exercise.

——

Even though I extracted this exercise from my done-for-you mindfulness workshop, I still have to rewrite it so that you can easily read it as a blog post.

I hope you can apply this exercise and that it gives you inspiration during your coaching sessions.

Thank you and sincerely,

Shikah