Hello beautiful people!
Woo HOO! This work-along session is all about content creation and setting up your editorial calendar for up to a whole freakin’ year, as we go deep using my 5×5 Content Planning Method! 🙂 Hooray!
Our 5×5 Content Plan-a-Thon Zoom took place on Saturday, October 10th, at 12pm PDT! Should you wish to relive the magic, pause, take notes, and then get more support in the comments area below, the replay is here for you!
And of course, here is the PDF of your marvelous, support-filled chat!
Next, I’d love for you to grab your 40-page (yes, really) workbook for our ‘thon! The PDF is here. You absolutely do not need to print out the whole thing (in fact, you can do this whole ‘thon drawing your own version of the workbook pages in a notebook if you prefer). Pages 7, 9-19, 23-34, and 36-38 are the contenders for printing. Some of you will want to print the whole dang thing; even have it bound at the printshop! 😉 Others will print nothing. You do you! The minimum *I* would print out would be pages 7, 9, 10, 15, and 36 (and I’d bring my already-in-progress big-picture planning calendar).
In case it helps you to see my filled-out worksheets (shared on-screen during our live Zoom, using the Self-Management for Actors categories, breakouts, and topics), they’re here for you as well.
I do have some homework I’d love for you to take a stab at before we meet up on Saturday for our work-along. Do NOT stress yourself out if you can’t get to all of this (or any of this). It’s all meant to enhance your experience, but if a nap feels more aligned, freakin’ do that! 😉 *self-hugs*
Feel free to tag me out on social media as you gather your different-colored pens and highlighters, index cards, any of the workbook pages you print out, your calendar (or mine), your snacks, lots of water (we’re gonna stay hydrated, y’all!), and of course I’ll bring the epic playlist for the head-down, write-on-the-pages segments of the ‘thon. Please also have a decision about your big picture concept for Saturday. Even if you have multiple businesses or enterprises for which you’d like to create content, we’re gonna focus on ONE for the purpose of building a muscle for this process. You’ll then be stronger to do this with another big picture concept another day.
Important: You can’t get this wrong! (Well… standing still, doing nothing… that would be how you “get this wrong” so please, just get going! You will build a muscle for this and it gets so easy over time. Promise! It’s Launch at 85% time!!)
I’m giving you access to one of my favorite days in the Get in Gear for the Next Tier curriculum. Please take some time to go over there and check it all out. These infographics in particular are really juicy when it comes to considering our brand vs. the brands of the platforms out there… and of course how to value all the places we put our content out in the world!
Also, here’s a resource for email scripts: DripScripts. Important: You shouldn’t feel married to a formula. Just connect with people authentically, give from your heart, and note that CLEAR beats CLEVER every time. We’re just building up the KLT factor with this content. Getting momentum going for us being “their friend who always has all the best information about X” so when we ask for the sale, it’s a no-brainer that we’re solving a problem for them! They’ll be THANKING us for having an offer!
If you missed last week’s livestream on the KLT (know-like-trust) factor, please check that out here:
Additional recommended viewing: Marie Forleo’s evolution of Marie TV (shot in late 2012). Just! Get! Started! You can get fancy over time. Your INFO is good? Get it out into the world. Then fix it in post. 😉
Really notice how Marie was not at all glammed up, not styled, not in a studio… she was sitting on her futon in her living room with no lighting and grainy webcam level images. Just. Get. Started. Seriously. You will learn soooooo much more from DOING than you will from PREPPING. Remember: Be a satisficer, not an optimizer.
Recommended listening: Building an Empire One Piece of Content at a Time (a podcast on which I was interviewed last year). Don’t start out looking at how massive you hope your empire will be someday; just start. Launch at 85%. Get out there. Share your toys. Being consistent and improving as you go will help you build to incredible heights!
I’m stoked to see your content take shape! While we’re here together, use the comments area below to share your big picture concept, your categories, your breakouts, your topics and the headlines they end up being, and of course your destinations and timeline! Let us support you as you start getting more consistent in your content creation! 🙂
Whether you batch this stuff or do it incrementally, with my (soon-to-be-famous) 5×5 Content Planning Method, you now have a formula to support the framework for making things happen with intention and focus… so you can stay nimble within that space! Remember: Creator, not consumer. And be responsive not reactive. Oh, and for sure, HAVE FUN with this. Your aligned work serves the world!
Ahh… I *so* love that feeling of never wondering what to publish when or where… because it’s all mapped out! Yay!
I love this kind of roll-up-the-sleeves experience and I hope you’ll jam with us here in the comments. You’ve GOT this! 🙂 Hug yourself!!
All my love,
Hi! I just had a question about scheduling. Do you plan for the entire year? I have content on the calendar through May, but I just feel a bit stuck there since there is so much uncertainty on what will be relevant as it pertains to creatives and auditioning. Also, I love this method! It’s super empowering! 🙂
Awesome! That’s so great, Tia. Because if you’re feeling empowered by this method, you’ll build a muscle for using it and be able to whip out a schedule whether it’s a year at a time, a quarter at a time, or just for the next few days.
Honestly, I still have my year “planned” (but notice those quotation marks… those weren’t there six weeks ago, of course) but I also have shifted some things around.
IMMEDIATELY, a month ago, we went through and combed all pre-scheduled tweets and decided-upon BonBlasts and livestreams and FB posts, etc., for a tone check. We redid our ads at FB and IG like INSTANTLY. Not to start TALKING about COVID-19 of course (not our style to hit that on the nose) but to be sure if we were talking about anything like “Get together with friends and do Brandprov” that we changed that to “Hop on Zoom with friends and do Brandprov” — we also reconsidered some of our business settings like having a deadline counter on our offer for the 100-day program (price goes up at the end of the timer; we removed that sense of urgency). And of course we created offers like this Plan-a-Thon and JFDI with Bon to be responsive to things our community needs and to come in way below the pricing of our flagship program.
But as for things that I just *know* are ALWAYS pertinent (like, there’s always actor funk in the summer; it’ll be far deeper this year. And there’s always “Should I move to LA” on the minds of actors everywhere, year-end; but this year it might be doing PLANNING for a move to take place in 2021 rather than actually being able to execute the move). So, I don’t so much overhaul the calendar but instead revisit the HOW of each of the things I’m going to put out into the world.
And, I’ve gotten more frequent with BonBlasts because *I* just want to reach out more. 🙂 So, some of it is just made up as we go, but there’s very much still a long-term structure. Consider it like the BONES of the thing. It’s a skeleton and I can change up how the body actually takes shape when I get to putting meat on the bones and all that. 😉
Amazing thanks so much! That was super helpful. I think I’ll take it a couple months at a time, but still role out more mindset meditations and maybe some self-tape mindset block stuff that I wasn’t going to really touch, but now an opportunity has been created!
Also, I just did this again with another business, and everything got clearer! So much fun!
Yay!! Isn’t it fun when we see the method clearer with each new topic we tackle using it? 🙂 So good! Keep me posted on how it’s going for you!
I’m super excited for this, as my industry is completely changed (for now)! Face painting and party entertainment is very different right now, as our insurance companies now have stricter regulations for coverage. The virus effectively canceled our work from March through now (I’m waiting to hear if a 4-month contract I have for face painting at an event from August-November will still be doable).
But! I noticed if this is an adjustment to our norm, what can I do to evolve with the times? So I’m adding a few additional services, like virtual party games, birthday boxes, and a livelier presence on my YouTube channel, showing arts & crafts, reading bed time stories, quarantine party hacks, etc. (Totally bought this course with the JFDI course. Love how it all aligned!)
Having content available for my face painting business, as well as my acting business, is super exciting! Especially for a team of one haha I feel motivated, ambitious, and ready to be consistent! And I’m eager for this 5×5 system to help me stay that way. ^_^
Yayayayayayay! We’re gonna have such a blast!
Hey all! So I went to look at Scrivener to download but a consistent complaint about it is that it doesn’t save well (like people’s work just DISAPPEARED) and that it doesn’t sync between devices. Like between computer and ipad. Can anyone speak to this?
Can’t wait for tomorrow!
❤️
Has never never never been a problem for me!
Ok good to know! And you go back and forth between devices?
Looking forward to learning a new method to pumping out content and drilling down the 5×5 😀 being a 5am start for me, I will land on your screen as soon as my eyes open haha
See all you lovely people tmrwo xx I’m off to bed x oohweee can’t wait
Yayayayayay! We will make it worth it! See you soooooooon!
I’m so excited to 5×5 planning today! Sharing my big picture concept…I’ll be doing this for my biz Effortless Ease Coaching where I’m a Life Guide & Energy Healer for artists, creatives, and multi-passionates. See you all in a few hours!
*excited for
Woo HOO! Can’t wait! 🙂
I’ve done a lot more planning since our plan-a-thon and I’m so grateful for this framework Bonnie! It’s helping sooo much to organize the MANY ideas that have been floating around in my brain in this way. I’ve also decided that it totally feels right to put my 2 social media accounts back together as one. I feel like it will strengthen BOTH sides of my brand (as an actor/creative & as a life guide/healer). I’m still posting on both at the moment, have started to plant little seeds that this will be happening, and plan to move everything over into one starting at the beginning of November. Any suggestions on things to make sure to do in order to get as many people as possible from my healing insta (@efforltesseasecoaching) over to my other instagram account (@therachaelferrera)??
Awesome, Rachael! This is all such good news. I’m so glad the 5×5 framework is serving you well and I love the focus of your unified brand. You’re RIGHT; they will only strengthen one another.
I would first look at your list of followers to see how many of the ones on the healing Insta are NOT following your main account. That’s fairly easy to do, though time consuming and tedious. Logged in as your main account, go to your healing account’s follows list, and open each of those people’s profiles to see if it says “follow back.” If it does, you’re fine, they’re following both accounts. If it doesn’t say “follow back,” I’d DM that person to say, “Heads up: I’ll be merging the X healing account with THIS Y profile. Please follow me here. Thank you!” (I’d also add more words, thanking them for supporting your new venture and how excited you are to bring it all under one umbrella. Then have that text ready to copy/paste [or better yet, have it saved in your iPhone’s “text replacement” section of the KEYBOARD, in your phone’s settings]).
Also change the ABOUT ME on the healing account to say “Closing this profile 11/1/20 (or whatever). Please follow me at X” and I’d also change that healing account to private, so it gets no new followers. Unless you have thousands of followers at the healing account, you can get all of this done in these next couple of weeks (and it’s an amazingly well-aligned Mercury retrograde task, BTW).
Got all that? 😉 Also post an item in your healing profile’s feed AND stories (do the stories daily-ish), guiding people to the main profile. THANK people when they make that jump and follow you at the main profile. The magic at IG is in the DMs. Use them!! 🙂
It’ll be worth this work! You’ll be so glad you did it!
This is super helpful! Thank you so much