💡The no-effort way to produce content (even when you’re burned out)

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It’s Monday and I am feeling it. Credit to coffee.

The Main Thing today gives you an effortless way to produce content. It’s all about how you start, which most content producers get wrong these days. 

After that comes Monday Marketing News.

Appetizer: Watch and dissect the most successful sports talk guy in history if you need to improve your speaking skills in video or audio content. No “ums,” no stumbles ever. Beats any online course.  

Smarter Marketing Starts Here

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• How to double down on the channels that actually work

• Case studies from top brands already seeing outsized ROI

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The Main Thing

The No-Effort Trick to Content Creation

Yep. This little hack works even if you’re exhausted or burned out from pumping out content.

People wonder how I produce so much content. For me it’s easy. A gift from my Maker.

Sorta like a kid who’s a natural linebacker. He explodes into the tackle. Other kids lack that and have to learn perfect technique instead.

Anyway. I find it easy to collect ideas and write about them. Even ideas that barely connect to the topic I’m writing about. I find ways to connect them. And it seems to be helpful to readers.

Like middle-school football players, not everyone has the same gifts. So, here’s a hack that can help you write more articles, churn out more videos, or record more audio content…

Start Writing Without Knowing Where You’re Going

I say “writing” because all content starts with writing. 

No one makes a video without at least writing an outline.

Now. 3 highly productive content creators have used the above hack or philosophy:

1. Louis L’amour

2. Lee Child

3. Jordan Peterson

(More people use this hack, but those three I know for sure do)

Louis L'Amour produced 89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and 2 full-length works of nonfiction.

Lee Child has written a book every year for about 30 years.

Peterson lectured students for decades, wrote multiple books the past few years, and records hundreds of hours of podcasts a year.

Each of these three people starts writing with a similar concept.

They start without knowing where the story will end up. That’s the hack. They begin without a clear map to the ending.

Peterson does this in lectures. Has a question in his own mind he wants answered. He hopes to find that answer during his hour-long talks.

Child does very little editing of his novels. Just starts writing and says, “I’m interested to see what happens.” Sounds crazy! But…

The part of Child’s brain that’s giving the story to Child’s typing fingers is an entirely different “person.”

The subconscious writer is not the same as the conscious writer.

Anybody Can Use This Content Production Hack

This isn’t rocket science.

Matter of fact, it’s about the same as the old adage of making your first draft ugly. Garbage. Something you’re ashamed of.

Just get something on a blank page, right?

Same thing with this hack. Just go. See where your subconscious takes you.

I know, I know. The gurus tell you it’s mandatory to have a solid outline first. Preferably a fool-proof template that GPT spits out (gross).

Next the gurus tell ya to only write about what your audience wants to read. 

That advice is so common, it’s, again, gross. And useless.

Trust me, your audience is as clueless as you and me because - be honest, do you know exactly what you want all the time? 

And how many articles or videos have wowed you on a topic you had no interest in and just happened upon that content?

Point is→ if you write a great article or make a cool video, it will find an audience. 

However, I 100% guarantee you if you try to optimize your content and hone it exactly for what you think a specific audience wants, it will not impress anyone.

Why will it fail?

Mainly because your audience will have already seen the same idea and thoughts since you researched what content would be popular with that audience. How could it be unique?

So, give this hack a try. 

Start writing with no outline. 

Without a clearly defined endpoint in mind.

Let your subconscious guide you. Stream your thoughts onto a blank page. 

You can tidy the thoughts up later. 

You’ll have created something unique with less effort.

Monday Marketing News is below, so sip on that on your way out…

Please share Inbox Hacking with a fellow marketing genius or business owner. I appreciate you reading & sharing.

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

“Good businesses don’t need debt & bad ones can’t handle it.” ~Ed Stack