I love creating content AND I love “selling”.

– creating high value content helps people for free. Most folks “hate selling”, but won’t step up their free content creation game. Yo! if you’re not yet comfortable selling, get comfortable creating high value free content which *does* require “playing the game”, unfortunately.

– If you can’t get anyone to stop scrolling because your hook or headline sucks, no one’s going to read what you have to say. So, this matters- a ton!

– I love selling because my paying clients get the most of my time, energy, and attention- obviously. Every sale is an opportunity for impact and deep change. When your free content is valuable, your paid content is even *more* valuable (at least- it should be).

– I know you probably think “selling is gross”- and it might be because you’ve been “grossly sold to” before (I have) but it’s not ALL like that, and YOU don’t have to “sell” like that. Sales = lives you change. With the exchange of energy (time & money) you’re able to truly hold space with and for folks. It’s amazing. Sales = lives changed/impacted/positive experience. Always. Never forget that.

– unfortunately, that requires having to “play the game” as well.

This is not an exhaustive list. I can never say this enough: no one single post can ever encompass each and every possible issue/solution/perspective/problem. This is Instagram. Not an encyclopedia.

 

1- You have no idea who you’re speaking to.

Typically a symptom of thinking you have a “warm body” business, where you’ll work with anyone

and everyone who’s “willing to pay.”

Who you’re creating content for should be reminiscent of who your offer(s) are for.

I get it, you genuinely want to and probably CAN help dozens of different types of people, but who is BEST SUITED for your offer(s)? Why? Are you speaking TO them? How do they know?

 

2- Your ideal client isn’t aware of their problem.

This makes them not an ideal client 😉

Your content should not teeter on having to convince anyone of anything, but rather, should be educational in nature IF your ideal client has education gaps.

Say you have an offer for burnt out millennials undergoing a career transition.

Do they know they’re burnt out? Or do you need to guide them to understanding that they are burnt out?

You are not CONVINCING them that they are burnt out- convincing and educating are not the same thing.

 

3- You’ve had a few wins so far.

You sold out a few offer(s)- great!

What was the experience of that like FOR YOU?

Ever ended up with a sold out group and felt like it was hit-or-miss in terms of the clients’ experience as well as your own?

This could be due to not being abundantly clear on WHO your offer is for, and creating content FOR that type of person.

Example:

Say you have an offer for women who already lift-

yet, you create content trying to convince women to lift.

It’s the difference between:

“3 reasons to lift”

&

“how to improve your back squat”

And then you’re frustrated that you have sold-out offers, but it’s full of women who’ve never lifted before…

Your content should be congruent with your offer.

You’re not clearly explaining the “point” of your offer.

This makes it hard to create relevant content.

If you’re a personal trainer, and you think “the point” of working with you is something along the lines of:

“Lift with me for 10 weeks.”

Why? What is the point?

What is your client going to get out of it?

What are they going to learn?

Create content relevant to the point of working with you.

 

4- Your hooks and headlines need some work.

We are all tired, busy, and distracted.

I’m not going to take the time to do the mental work to stop my scroll to see if your post is relevant to me or not–

I should know right away if it’s going to be worth my time.

You do this with your hook or headline.

An easy way to approach this is to start your piece of content with the BYPRODUCT of the post itself.

There is wiggle room and nuance. Always. We know this.

IG Reels are a part of this nuance.

 

5- Your writing is fluffy AF or full of jargon.

I ALWAYS use this example- it’s so important.

Say you’re an intuitive eating counselor.

UNLESS your clients already know what

“food habituation” means- starting a post with

“why you need to habituate to food” isn’t going to land.

What is the BYPRODUCT of food habituation?

Similarly, if you’re in the movement space, and using phrases like “midline stability is one way we can decrease sensations of tightness in the hamstrings” unless your target audience are movement pros- how can you distill this into an easy to understand post?

 

6- You just need more time.

Online business is great!

AND.

It’s given folks the illusion that “all you have to do” is post on IG and BOOM- you have a business.

Business takes TIME.

Despite what secrets anyone is trying to sell you, nothing replaces the tenacity it takes to be patient and do the work even when it feels like it’s “not working.”

There is no quick fix.

No strategy or solution exists to replace the utility of MORE TIME.