Lessons

Lesson Info

Generate a never-ending list

The next step to never running out of ideas is to create a system for creating a never-ending list. And basically what you wanna do is niche down your big topics. So we have some big topics like my people care a lot of about their health, and they're this age, and they have this many kids, and they ask me these questions. Those are like overall big topics, but we can break that down into specific episode ideas. So you might have thought, when we were talking, oh no, I came up with some specific topics to cover. But you can get even more specific. And if you're gonna keep making videos day after day, you're gonna have to get way more specific. So in your workbook on page eight, I've got the question right in the middle of the page, pick a topic. So of all the things that you talked about previously that people find interesting in your work, what they care about, what you know about your audience, what she asks you. Pick one thing you could talk to her about, and write it down. Okay, so ...

then we are going to look at it in a bunch of different ways. And I call this angles. Like if you think you're gonna approach it from different perspectives for all different kinds of people. Any single topic we can break down in a bunch of different ways. So who has an example I can use here, of a topic you could cover? Yes. The artist's creative process from inspirations of putting the brush to the canvas. Okay, so covering the artistic inspiration process. Artistic process, creative process. Those are the words you said. Okay from inspiration to actually making the thing. Oh wow, that's huge. So first of all, before we even get into different ways, different angles and perspectives, you could break that down into a whole series of each steps. So I would do one video on; I mean you could do a million videos on inspiration, and then what does she do with the inspiration? You're talking about your sister as an artist, right? So you could ask her a bunch of questions about what inspires her. Next video, what does she do with that inspiration. Does she make like magazine clippings, does she make a vision board, does she paint swatches, does she collect fall leaves and take a photo? How is she translating that inspiration into something? And then what is the next step in the process? Does she mix up paints, does she get out the right size canvas, does she sketch, and then she actually starts painting? So you could cover each of those in a different video, and that could be your entire show. Each month she does a different inspiration, she walks through a different product or paintings process. You see what I'm saying? So it could be like, the first week we do inspiration, the second week we do whatever the next step is. And you have four steps, and each month you repeat it for a different end painting. That would be awesome, I would watch that show. Because I don't paint, so it'd be super fascinating to see the process somebody goes through. Now, you could go on from there and look at it, what are the ways I could talk about this for different audiences? So you could; something like healthy living. Right, you could do healthy living for moms, healthy living for toddlers. Now the toddlers probably aren't gonna watch your videos, but their moms most likely will. Healthy living for single men, healthy choices for vegans, healthy choices for paleo people, healthy choices for Creative Live teachers, all different audiences. You can make a super general topic. Healthy living is like, oh my goodness, you could cover everything, right. Food, exercise, lifestyle choices, and then break it down by different audiences. And you never run out if you keep thinking about who's your audience, who else is involved in her life. So if your audience for this healthy living podcast is a woman aged 35 to 45, who wants to make a major transformation in her life, well she probably has a significant other in her life, so you could talk about how to make choices while she's dealing with; like maybe she's a vegetarian and he's paleo, how do you balance that? You could make videos about the kids that she might have in her life, her aging parents she has in her life. So your video is still for her, but it's for who else she's dealing with. So different audiences in that way. 'Cause that same woman would watch all those videos, 'cause they all relate to her. So write those down, for different audiences, in your workbook. And then let me know if anybody has, or is stuck coming up with different audiences for their topic. You all look like you have a pretty good list. And if anybody online is stuck coming up with ideas, ask us. I'd love to generate these ideas. So if you're having a hard time coming up with a different audience or a different angle, let us know, we will help. Okay, so the next way is to look at it, the same topic for different skill levels or interest levels. That's my very simple knitting project, but that's the thing, you can do super advanced knitting projects, super basic knitting projects, all kinds of different skill levels and interest levels. Right, so healthy living for beginners, healthy living for fitness professionals, healthy living for people who hate broccoli, right. And healthy living for people who love broccoli. So that's what I mean by interest levels. Like what are the things; how interested in this topic are they? Are they super interested, like is your podcast about the creative process for other artists? Or probably not if you wanna sell your paintings. Or is it for people who hang art in their homes, for people who go to art shows, for art history buffs? So you can look at all different skill levels and interest levels. So you're filling out your workbook for that. Anybody stuck on a way to take their topic for a different interest level? Let's go to a question from online, actually, that says, "As a photographer, it's hard to show the process. "Every family is their own unique family." So assumption that she's doing family photography. "How can we incorporate topics on photography "without engaging other photographers?" Oh right, so she's selling her photography services. Yeah. So she wants to talk to people who are going to hire her, yes. So I would not talk about photography unless you're talking about how to get ready for a photography session. So how to style your hair before your photography session, what clothes not to choose, five outfits not to wear on your photography session. Now it depends on her attitude, and brand and qualities. So maybe if you're talking to a bunch of; if you do new baby photography, you do a whole bunch of videos about how to get ready for your new baby photography. Or, if you're doing wedding photography your video could be all about weddings. Everything but the photography. You're the missing piece, and you're the expert that's gonna help them get ready for whatever it is your session is about. So if you do pet photography, it could be a lot about how to keep your dog calm, how to keep your dogs' coats clean, what are the best backdrops for dogs, what you should bring to a session. So that's the thing, is just focus really on that person you're serving, and what else she needs to know before she hires you. Or, after she's hired you, before she gets a photo taken. What's awesome about those videos, is they become really useful customer retention, because after a person hires you, if you send them, "Hey here's a video "on what not to wear; here's a video on what to wear; "here's how to keep your dog calm." She's gonna be like, "Oh my goodness, "this person has thought of everything. "Now I'm gonna go and have a really great session "with this person, 'cause I'm fully planned "on what to bring and what to do, "and how to keep my dog calm. And so she's gonna be happier with her session, so she's gonna come to you again. 'Cause I'm gonna go back to that photographer time and time again if she made that session as great as it could be. So it's both appealing to the person before they're a customer, and also you can use these videos to keep them your customer for a long time. Any questions about different interests or skill levels? You guys came up with; I see you all have good lists. So the next thing is, with a different perspective or using a different format. So when you're thinking about your topic, you can come at it like you're the expert and you're gonna teach a class. You can come at it like a top five list. The top five things to remember before your photography session, the top five outfits to never wear, the top five hairstyles to avoid. Which is different than hey here's how you get ready for a photography session. And you talk through and you teach like you're a teacher. A different perspective would be, here's a resource list, here's five of my top favorite resources. And maybe they're blogs that are all about getting ready for your photography session. Or, they're your favorite five books, or they're your favorite five podcasts. Another different perspective is to have on an expert. So if you've talked about your thing so long, and you're like I have no idea what else to say about it, invite somebody else on your show. And either through technology or in person, ask them the questions that you're always talking about. So if I'm always talking about how to have confidence and the right mindset to share your handmade work with people, and you do that for artists, I could have you come on and share what you say to artists because it's also going to apply to handmade people. And that's gonna keep me from having to talk about it for the 100th time. I think you should. Yeah, there you go. So you wanna use different perspectives or formats on the same topic. You can take a whole bunch of different views from it. So you can ask one person a bunch of questions, or you can ask the same question to ten different people. Those are gonna be two totally different videos. And keep in mind, that some of the people who are watching your video, they've never watched another video before, so this stuff is brand new to them. Your addicted viewers who watch every week, are going to be like oh that's so great. That person said it in a way I never thought of. So even if you feel like you're talking about the same thing all the time, it's gonna hit people totally different. Every time you switch it up and you come from a different angle or different perspective, they're gonna like have heard it for the first time ever because it just was exactly what they needed right then. So you can use that. I had you do it on one topic in your workbook, but you can use that process on any topic. So if somebody comes to you and is like, "You know, what I really wish you would talk about "is the substrate that you stamp on or that you paint on." You could then ask yourself, okay how could I talk about the substrate from different perspectives? How could I talk about it with different experts? How could I make it for a different audience? For new stampers or old stampers, or young stampers, you know whatever it is you can come at it from a bunch of different angles. And that's why I call it the never-ending list. 'Cause any new idea you get, you can run it through this format, or this system and come up with different questions. Are there people in the chat room who are having a hard time coming up with ideas? Um, not so much. They seem quite happy in terms of ideas really, I guess. Some of the questions are related to, you know, maximizing on previous work in new videos, and how you can make the most from old content. And kind of refresh it and make it new. Yes, so I've done that. Back last year I was having a harder time and I wasn't feeling well, and my brain was not like coming up with any new ideas. So I went back to my most popular videos, or blog posts actually that didn't have videos. I read the blog post as a video. I mean, I like got my energy up, and I was friendly, but I just like read the blog post. And that video is one of my best videos, because it was the top content on my blog for the year it was published. It was then also one of the top video content because people liked that topic. And I've gone back; so you can do that you can go to old blog posts and written content, and turn it into video. And then, if that blog post is getting a lot of traffic, take that video, embed it in the old blog post. Also you can make a new blog post with a new video as well. So that new people who are coming to your website see it fresh. Another thing I've done is I've taken; if I've done a Q and A in a class, and somebody asked an amazing question, or I gave an amazing answer, I make a note of it after. Like I'm gonna go home and write down all your amazing questions and my amazing answers, and make podcast episodes out of that. So it's content I've already created in the moment, and then I'm gonna think it through and go deeper. So the same thing; maybe you don't have customers yet but your friends always ask you something, and you answer it, and you're like that was a good answer. Go write it down, shoot a video for your channel where you say that brilliant thing again. Also, if you've done old videos and they were super bad lighting, and you looked totally different or you just feel really weird, you don't ever wanna send anybody that, but it's a great content that you do wanna send people to, just re-shoot it. Move the old video to that private that I showed you, so it's just not there anymore, and publish your new one. I wouldn't do that unless it's more than a year or two old, 'cause you just don't want the same content constantly. But absolutely; I have videos from five years ago I should completely re-shoot because everything's different. From my hair, to where I live, in the background and my lighting, and everything. Technology. Yeah the technology. My camera's better, right. I was using literally an old handheld video camera. Now we talked a lot about how consistency is important, and consistency is entirely in your own hands. Like you are the person who's either gonna do it consistently or not. And coming up with a bunch of different topics is really important for you to be able to keep going; for you to be able to stay consistent. The other thing that will help you stay consistent is to make a plan and to have a system.