Lessons

Lesson Info

Create Unique Content

Hey welcome back alright welcome back here we go this is our goal for this less and we are going to create unique content that earns theatre tension of your I deal clients have you ever felt like you don't know what to put on your block? You don't know what to put in your email newsletter you don't you don't know what to make a video about you don't know what to put on your brochure or whatever we're going to talk about creating unique content in this lesson but first let's recap what we did in the previous lesson the easiest way to stand out is to say something different a different way in other words beam or different in the previous lesson you identified your unique point of view and you put together a very cool pinterest board to represent that unique point of view so where we going in this lesson? So first of all, this is the end of session teo I can hardly believe it on this is create unique content so I've said this a few times already but I really want to say it again. Do you e...

ver get the feeling that everyone is saying the same exact thing in the same exact fonts? It's really freaking boring, right? I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've gone on websites and it's like okay, so you're obsessed with that person and okay, so you're obsessed with that influencer and okay, you're obsessed with this person if you're saying the same thing in the same font as the person that's influencing you, you've got a big problem because are you ever going to be a cz big as that influencer doing what they d'oh no thie on li wei you can level up the on ly way you khun realize the audience and the influence and the potential that you have is to do something different if you want to stand out, you need to say something different you need to have a different message you need to have a different point of view and you need to represent it differently. Sound good? Yeah, well, I'm about to bring on someone who is very good at doing things differently. Her name is lisa condon. She is an artist, an illustrator, a speaker. I frankly just think of her as someone who does things differently and does a lot of different things differently. And so I would love to have lisa come on up let's, give her a big round of class thing going over you. Is that okay? First of all, thank you so much for being here and in the middle of some stressful things I'm moving yeah, different state and yeah, so thank you, you have a very distinctive style so whether it's your art or your illustrations or just the way you kind of present yourself online or at a conference it's very distinctive it's very you what influences your style and just the way you approach creating well, you know, it's interesting I think that when you are starting up as especially in a creative business you know what you were just saying about like, often our inclination is to try to emulate somebody who we admire, who we see as successful if I could only be like them and I think that that there is not necessarily that's not necessarily a bad thing in the beginning. Um it's kind of like little kids who are learning to draw they start tracing first or, you know, I teach ah, art classes and oftentimes people walk away making work that looks like mine and I say, well, as long as you don't try to sell it for what, you have to start somewhere, but at some point you have to break out and figure out what is it that I am doing that is different than what other people you know are doing in my world and for me my world I'm an artist and an illustrator and an author and a public speaker, so how can I make what I do different and part of what I do is think about it ah, what drives me what makes me want to get out of bed in the morning because let's face it if you're not excited to do what you do every day as a small business owner um some of you probably how many of you work by yourselves you know I and about to stop doing that I have hired a business partner but you know, for years and years I worked by myself and you have to hold so much inside of you every single day when you work by yourself even if you have an assistant or an intern so you might as well be excited and part of what resonates for other people is what resonates for you and I think that's part of why a lot of successful business owners our successful because they're doing things that they love and that um that is inspiring to other people that they are excited about what they're doing so I try teo you know, I ask myself is this something that I'm gonna be excited about whenever I start something something new or how can I make this something fun for me? Because otherwise we'll be miserable so that's part of it I think part of it too is figuring out the stuff that we spent years and years and I'm forty seven so I have a lot of experience at this years and years of, um time trying to push away the stuff we were ashamed of, or that maybe people teased us about when we were kids, or the stuff that we think makes us different in a bad way, and owning that and using that as part of who we are, and that and that's great, because every every body's story is different. So for me, I didn't pick up a paintbrush until I was thirty one or thirty two years old, I'm now very successful artist and people, when they find that out, they're shocked. They think I must have gone to art school and graduated when I was twenty two, and I've been doing this my whole life, but actually, I did it in a very unconventional way, and so sharing that sharing my story brings a new audience into see my artwork and that's something I used to actually have a lot of shame about that I didn't go to art school, that I started late, and I would try to hide it and pretend I was younger, and all of a sudden I realized this is actually where my power lies. Absolutely, I have a lot of shame about not having gone to business school. There you go, I don't have an mba, five grand of my power, too, right? So you've got a lot of disparate kind of projects that are happening, you've got books, you've got fine art, you've got illustrations. What do you how do you decide what projects to pursue? Well, you know, it's a sort of, you know, everybody know what event diagram is, you know, where you you draw circles, and then you sort of try to find a sweet spot in the middle for me. It's some combination, of course, just what I mentioned before this this idea of enjoyment and resonance is this when I have a new opportunity or when I think about something I would like to do to make to make some income, I think, am I going to enjoy this and the beginning of my career? I said yes to everything and did everything I could think of, um and I had to because it was the only way that I could, you know, pay my rent or, you know, do what I was doing, get my name out there at some point we all dream of, you know, getting to the point where we're doing all of the things making all of that effort so that at some point we had a tipping point, right? Where there's so much opportunity for us that we actually get to choose the stuff we really want to dio and and I'm at that point where I get to make those choices and you think it's gonna be really easy but it's actually really are I dreamed of the day when I'm in boxwood be filled with requests for people to work with me or partner with me or whatever and then I got to that point and I was completely overwhelmed so again this idea that if I'm going to do this I might as well enjoy it is really important and then you know our people willing to pay me money tio let's you know let's face it that matters in the beginning I had to do a lot of things for free or if or not as much money my time is really precious I don't I work a lot so I want to be compensated in a way that I think is fair and commensurate with my skill set are people willing to pay me money? Of course there are exceptions to that I have all kinds of relationships with, you know nonprofits and organizations that I work with for reduced rates so it's not it it's just as a general rule I have to think about that and then thirdly, do I have time? You know, can I take on this opportunity? You know, I wrote a book called art ink and it in the last chapter I wrote about you know, this idea you know, the other side of success right? That you actually get to that place that you dream of where all these things are happening for you and incomes coming in and you have choices and it can actually be really overwhelming and so learning how to like figure out what's your criteria for how you are going to make decisions about what opportunities you're going to take advantage of, um is really an important thing to think about and so for me, you know, do I actually have time to do this? Um and do you do it well so that I'm not too stretched thin is really important in session to wed her? I'm sorry and session one we talked about guiding principles and personal values and how they can really help you make decisions in your business so it sounds like one of the personal values and guiding principles for your business is this sense of fun? Yes, yes it sze you'll probably hear me you heard me talk all day that's what I'm talking about a lot and I think in particular in the last few years of my business when I have gotten into a flow right, I don't feel like I'm struggling as much to sort of like, you know, you know, get to that place where where I wanted to be so um, I don't have one of those people who doesn't believe that you ever arrive like you're always learning and growing and changing and being open about that feels very important to me, but at the same time, like I did, I have actually gotten to the place that I dreamed of three or four years ago, so all right, so now, you know, andi, I was struggling, then I don't want to struggle anymore, so I might as well have have a good time. Yeah, yeah, and I want to kind of reflect back another thing that you have been bringing up, which is that this isn't something you figure out in one fell swoop, right, that, you know, we all start at different places, and even though I hope you take a lot out of this boot camp on how to stand out that, you know, each time you do something, each time you execute something, you learn a little piece, you learn a little new piece that helps you get to where you really want to be that's, right? Yes, awesome. So how is the way you you've approached your art, affected or influence the way you approach your business? Well, as an artist, a lot of what I do is visual, so, you know, I'm I'm I have, ah, large social media presence, and I post a lot of what I'm making online and it's a no brainer that for somebody like me, if you're a photographer, a graphic designer and artist, you know, you almost think of your branding as being your art. Um, and I've always approached it that way, you know, how can I style this photo so that, you know, it really represents who I am and what my aesthetic is that's very important to me as an artist? Um, however, I've also learned that how I communicate and run my business is a huge part of my brand as well, and how people receive me, um, and some of the guiding principles I actually just went through a session with with business coach, that who have been working with for years, the other day where we started, finally talking about, like, what are the mission, what's the mission in vision of my business and one of the guiding principles of what I do, especially now that I have a business partner, we all need to be on the same page, you know, things like friendly communication prompt communication. You know how, whether it's a block post I write an email I respond to, or that my now business partner responds to or something I post on instagram how we respond to people on instagram or on twitter on facebook how I interact with the people who are part of my community is all part of my brand um and so we're all powder part of how people experience my artwork I could make the most beautiful things in the world of the most interesting art in the world, but, um, I believe that if if that art is really going to resonate for people, they have to have a positive experience with the rest of my business and you know how I should my etsy orders and how I communicate and all of all of it, I'm sure one thing you think about is having fun with it, right? Yes. Awesome. Okay, so what if you have one piece of advice to give these awesome people about crafting mohr unique content? What do you think that would be? Well, so I I know you guys have been talking a lot about like finding your voice and figuring out what your unique perspective is and what makes you different is what makes you stand out doing that work is incredibly important and it takes you years and some of you are probably further along cause you been doing this for a while and some of you are just starting out it took me years and it's like, for artists, it's a lot of drawing over and over or painting or doing that thing where you finally figure out like, this is my color palette, and these are my symbols that show up in my work, and these are you know it, if you're not an artist and you run another kind of business, it's going to be different things, right? But that finding your unique perspective is important, and it takes a really long time and simultaneously in order to grow your business, you have to put yourself out there and right now in some way, um, you know, social media is a really common way, especially for people like me who have, you know, visual things to share. So you have to sort of b get comfortable in that space where your experimenting and figuring out what works for you and your business and how to communicate about your business and, um, and putting yourself out there as if you know what you're doing, a ziff, you've already sure of your voice. So you have to get comfortable with that space of, um, of not knowing and putting your work out there, and and then I would say, really paying attention, tio, what seems to be resonating for other people because it's this sweet spot between what I love and enjoy what brings what's fun for me and what resonates for other people like what are people buying? What are people talking about what our people responding tio how can I do more of that in a way that resonates for me and um like figuring out what that is and then eventually um you know if I was just an artist and all I cared about I didn't care what anybody thought and care about selling my work I could just make art but unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it if you are an artist who wants to sell your work or your business person who wants to sell your product or your service you have to care about what people think you have to care about your audience and finding the place where your joy and happiness and mission envision for your business meet where what other people's needs are or wants our or desires are so paying attention all the timeto what you're experimenting with what seems to be you know what people are responding teo and what people aren't responding to and really taking that seriously and letting that dr you know how you continue to do what you do yeah well what people respond to and how they perceive you I think can really be a mirror on parts of yourself that you you're not even comfortable with well it's true and you know there is this whole idea too that you know it's very scary to put yourself out there on social media in particular or if you do public events you know what if no one shows up you know whatever right? No what if people show up but they don't buy anything or you know and so we have to also, you know, get comfortable with treating this as an experiment and as a learning experience and not as a personal a front or assault to who we are the like our value as a human being or as a business person or is an artist or whatever it is you d'oh and that's hard because you know, it feels like an extension of us and then you try something and no one responds to it. What is that what you know, how do you deal with that it's hard sometimes absolutely. And practice makes perfect. Yes, but the more you do it last year in absolutely well lisa, you have ah, creative lie. Of course I do. Um it's called become a working artist and it's a two day course although you can take little bits and pieces of it and I cover all kinds of things from from branding and you know different ways of selling your work and managing the ups and downs and all of that so perfect and where can we find you online lisa can you not calm and I have ah blogged that I write on almost every day that um that is lisa canyon dot com slash blawg keep it simple mason thank you so very terrible being here it's my pleasure yeah right that was awesome yes do you love hearing about how like a working artist speaking of her creative live talk creates unique content man I just think that is so cool all right so we've alluded to this throughout the boot camp already but difference is in the details difference is in the details each thing that way that makes you different than the way that you do what you d'oh differently than other people can be woven throughout every piece every inch of the tapestry that is your business and the flip side of that is that you want to show don't tell I can tell you all day long how my business is different but it won't be nearly as effective as showing you so it's the way I write my block post it's the way I write my emails it's the way I show up on twitter it's the way my website is built when I show you the details of my story about the way I'm different you're much more receptive of them they're much more compelling that if I were to just tell you about them we spend a lot of time telling we spend a lot of time broadcasting we don't spend nearly enough time working our difference into the content that we create or the way we show up online now I want to tell you a little story about a story oregon where I live in a story oregon there are three production breweries three production bruce now a story oregon is a town of ten thousand people it is very small it's you know like essentially five or six blocks okay that's our downtown area I could walk everywhere I want to go in town that's how small we are yet historia oregon supports and is kind of overflowing with these three production breweries in that people come from all over to go to these these different breweries and the and the reason is is because each is different each has a unique positioning in the market and as such they create different kinds of content so I want to show you the first one that I want to talk about is for george brewery four charge breweries is where my partner works and this is zack he's a buddy of mine on zach is enjoying a burger on berger wednesday and fort george has amazing values for family, community and relationships and so people factor into their media ah a lot you'll see the fort george family whether their customers or people behind the scenes in almost all of their marketing that's one of the details that they show in their unique content this is another piece of media from fort george uh, that does the same thing only a little bit differently in that this this piece of media is representing something else that they do marketing wise, which is every thursday they host to some sort of lecture in their event space where they welcome in the community for a free lecture on science or the environment or local food growing something or others they bring in the community. These talks are super popular and four charges really well known for them. So this is one on earthquakes and tsunamis that happened not too long ago. So all of the marketing that they create, whether they do this intentionally or not, I don't know, but they're marketing reflects these values for relationships, shared experience and fun. So you know that when you walk in there, you're gonna feel like part of the family because if you've been following them on social media at all, you're already part of the family you can identify the faces you're going to know zack, when you walk through the new are you going to know sean when you walk through the door and that's pretty awesome for someplace so that their unique niche in our beer market in the story of this is one of the other breweries in town? This is bui beer they just opened a year ago and when the oregon beer words from willamette week came out, they were the winner of best new brewery. Now that's pretty remarkable, considering that this is ah weekly publication based in portland, where there is no shortage of new breweries, right that's kind of their thing, but it's our thing too and buoy is awesome buoy has this this value for excellence? If they had, if we had a fascination language, it would be purse steve's like no doubt prestige is their thing, so they are all the time highlighting all these awards that they win because this is not the first award that they've won, they've entered all sorts of competitions. They won bronze medals at the great american beer fast, which is sort of like the big daddy of of beer, ward's eso there all the time, highlighting their excellence in the media that they create here's another one this one is sort of how they bring the community into that excellence. This is a post about their schwartz beer, which is a style of of lager. I think if I'm remembering correctly and that short spear was brewed by three local homebrewers, some of the better known or better home brewers in our community they brought these guys in and they said, hey, what hebrew this beer with our head brewer and let's create something really awesome together so it was a great beer look how happy these guys look I mean, they're so happy to have made this beer in a big facility like this so buoys marketing helps other people see themselves as part of buoys success and so that that feeling of excellence isn't just something that's internal but that is something that's external as well it's something that they could bring people into so you guys have some ideas for unique content that you could be creating tiffany I was thinking of creating an art mixer night and a studio where people could come in and maybe somebody teaches a class or people bring in their own projects a bottle of wine and just get together and mingle and connect yeah and what's that hashtag that you're working on it it's connect hasn't changed no, I can't it was it's how you how you connect yeah for you not a y o how wealthy you connect yeah awesome so maybe they're how you connect artist mixers for sure yeah for art mixing you yeah, absolutely so you're distinct. Your unique content in this case is actually an experience not, you know, like a block post figure of slap up on your on your website I think that's brilliant okay, beautiful and of course that experience can you can then just like the breweries that we were showing you can reflect that experience back into the media that you're creating online as well, which is huge right? And that ties in to the line and the hashtag and anything else absolutely it brings people in it connects them with the community, the local community that you're establishing and makes that online community feel a part of things perfect I love that about some other ideas what kind of unique content are gonna create briana for me what what I really love to do is to show how awesome my clients are on and that also ties into, you know, prestige and excellence and that kind of thing and that you made the comment that the buoy guys used this idea of let's create something awesome together. And so for me what that can look like is just literally showcasing the work that my clients are doing with my help yeah, but you know whether that's a case study or an interview or just even just having ah showcase section on my sight of you know, these are all the amazing things that have come out of the collaboration because the other thing I have a really high going back to personal values guiding principles is collaboration I want to work with people not for people and so that allows me to be able to showcase that make them look really awesome which is something they want and then also helps me to feel like you know we did this together and I was a partner in that yeah, absolutely that's something that's worked great for me in terms of creating riel ah creating distinct, unique content that actually does really well with selling as well you were a case study on my blogged on you know, I think that's great that's a great idea perfect. How about one more what's a piece of unique content or an idea for you need contact? Megan aesthetics is really important to me, you know, in my whole life but especially in the garden I liketo have a really I'd like to produce a lot of food have a really productive garden, but I want my garden to be very beautiful a cz well and also spills into my business. I actually have a new website and I want it I want teo um so aesthetics like the pictures I use, I bought a new camera last year and I took a tire free corps so that I could really kind of up the aesthetics of my sight and everything that I put out beautiful. I love that because someone else doing what you do might be really focused on the bounty like how much like the you know, I got ten cucumbers and I got eighteen peppers and and that that might fit really well into what their personal values are and what's going to make their media really distinctive wouldn't necessarily work so much for you it could certainly be something that you incorporate but I love this idea of aesthetics and making your block or your email or whatever it might be maybe instagram or pinterest since you're talking really visual making that media really about the image about celebrating how good food can be beautiful too love that actually is that just came to me um I guess when certain we're the moves in certain signs kind of reaching out using conscience saying you know hey, if you are I don't know let's say your tourists you know the muslims horace right now you know, promote do your thing and kind of speaking to those direct values or even just encouraging people who may know that they're clients birthdays air coming up so like let's say you have ah client you know that's also a tourist, you know, maybe sending them a nice personalized like, somewhat luxury gift like sending on some tiffany's earrings because tourists like to look beautifully like luxury and like, nice thing so you know, ideas for gifts for clients or just different things like that beauty in there fine, I love how you guys are thinking outside of the social media box this makes me really happy because experiences can be media as well experiences can be content let's say experiences help people interact with our business in really unique ways, and if you want to be more different hack, don't just say it on social media show people in person show people in an interactive forum online beautiful, awesome! Okay, so today's homework is go say something different go say something different create that experience that's different right? A block post that's different put something on instagram that this different quick created tweet that's different change the message on your home page, make it different don't just make a different for different sake. They'll make sure that you're considering the benefit of that difference for your customers. How is what you do differently of benefit to your customers? Then create a piece of content on instagram, facebook, twitter, your blogged, etcetera that says something unique about you, your business or what you saw stand for this doesn't have to be hard on this is something that you want to build into your daily routine really eso every time you go on instagram your thinking about how do I see this thing differently every time you go on facebook, how can I share this link differently so that it's in line with what I stand for with who I am with what my business is, the vision that I have for my customers remember to show don't tell I don't need to actually know how you're different from reading your content or your link or whatever it might be I just want to say see it I want to feel it make your content embody that difference not just tell me about it and then when you do that tag creative live and terror gentilly in your post whether you link back to us, you add us you tag us on facebook on instagram, whatever it might be, just tag it so that we could check it out because we want to share in this experience with you and uh maybe share your experience for you so awesome now, as I said, this is the end of session too, so let's recap what we've done so far during session to you discovered the questions or customers are asking so you can answer them in the way that only you can you identified the need your product fails, you pinpointed your particular conditions for connection you invested in your unique point of view you created content that people want to read like and share because it's different, but of course we're not done with this boot camp we've got three more sessions to go, so to achieve success you must define success and defining success is a huge way for you to stand out because focus looks good on you when you do fine, what success is going to be you are much more focused when you know what you're working towards. Your much more focused and focused us doesn't just change the way you work. Focus changes the way people perceive you. They understand your vision. They understand your unique point of view. They understand how you did what you dio is different, and that kind of focus looks really good on you. It makes people pay attention.