 the SPARK 150 ~ Celebrating 150 Issues! 
This issue is brought to you by MemberDash (BRAND NEW)
The most flexible membership plugin for WordPress!
Hi, Reader,
Remember when you were a child, and you were learning something new in school, but for some reason, it wasn’t clicking?
For me, this was usually math (thinking specifically about high school).
I never struggled with math until junior high, when I missed the first three weeks of school due to needing to have hip surgery (after being in a brand new school for only three days).
The homeschool teacher I had was OK, but when I got back to school, I always felt behind.
So, I made up a story that I wasn’t good at math.
The one thing about math that I did love was that magical moment when the dots did connect. 💡
All of a sudden, the formula for the equation/problem made sense, and the work felt fun (well, as fun as math can be for us non-math folks).
The same thing happens in our businesses.
It might be tech, a marketing strategy, or a clear path as to what you need to do next.
All of a sudden, you just get it. You know.
That’s what happened to me this week.
I had an epiphany about content marketing and the state of online marketing in general.
With AI shaking everything up, things are going to look different.
As someone who truly doesn’t enjoy creating content for search engines, I have a gut feeling all the change is going to play in my favor (fact: I despise doing keyword research).
Here’s an interesting article that talks about how AI, including Google’s new chat app, Allo, might be the demise of link-based search marketing.
Back to my epiphany…
Think about when you were first starting out online, and everything was new. You didn’t have any sort of knowledge bias about what did or didn’t work.
Maybe you read things or watched a YouTube video to solve a problem, but that was it.
And what you did read or watch made you excited about the possibilities.
You didn’t have to buy a course, subscribe to a bunch of email lists, or master something first.
You just started.
You tried things.
Remember back in the “olden days,” before the Internet and people who wanted to create just created?
Authors wrote books they wanted to write, artists created art because they felt compelled to, and businesses were launched because someone had an idea.
And they talked to their customers so they could serve them better and understand what they really wanted.
Look… I’m all for learning new things, understanding best practices, using tools, and wanting to create a business that supports your life.
BUT…
What if, instead of trying to come up with the “right” thing to please search engines or social media, you stepped back, took a little timeout, and got clear about what you wanted to do?
And then, from that place of clarity, you started creating and putting it out to the world?
Do you think that…
- Shakespeare, did audience research?
- Steven Spielberg analyzed what would sell?
- JK Rowling paid attention to the bestseller list to see if her book idea would work?
- Brené Brown did keyword research about vulnerability?
I get that this might sound silly… but more often than not, trying to “get it right” instead of “get it out there” stops us before we even give ourselves the chance to start.
That’s my new plan.
And I’m ridiculously excited.
I’m treating this as somewhat of an experiment to see how it all plays out.
Obviously, I’m going to stay under the wheelhouse of digital marketing, but I’m going to follow the inspiration.
Since having this epiphany, the content seems to be flowing.
Inspiration seems to have ‘taken the wheel.’
You can listen to the rest of my epiphany on the podcast here (or click the image below).
A Little Brainpower 🧠
You’ve probably already heard this, but wow! ChatGPT can now see, speak, and hear. WOOHOO!
I think I’m going to test this for the content planner (and they’ll have shoppable videos)! Introducing TikTok Shop.
You know how much I love Kadence for WordPress…here are three new features in Kadence Blocks – Images, Progress Bars, and Conditional Form Fields.
Tool Time 🛠
- Notion: A new Chrome Extension for saving your ChatGPT threads to Notion. Try ChatShelf free here.
- Video: So many easy video tools and editors available today. This looks great. Try Kapwing free here.
- Live Stream: Get ahead of things. Live stream pre-recorded video, with features like giveaways. Try LiveReacting free here.
- Brainstorming & Note-taking: This is Apple only, but it looks great for combining notes, images, plans, etc. Download and use Muse free here.
Celebrating 150 issues of the Newsletter! 🥳
I completely forgot that this week was issue 150 until I logged into ConvertKit to write it. Oops! You know you’re onto something when you can stick to it for 150 weeks STRAIGHT! (I’m pretty proud of myself).
SO… in honor of hitting 150 issues… you can get 50% off a 90-minute Focus Session (through Saturday night only).
Haha… you know you’re getting older when… 🤣
|
|
This past week and a half has been one where I’ve had to give myself a lot of grace. I’ve had a ton of work to do, and as much as I like doing it, working through the weekend this past weekend caught up to me.
So I scheduled a call with my mentor, have been focusing on getting lots of rest, and staying in gratitude.
On a particularly tiring day, I “happened” to come across this book, so I grabbed the audio (the quotes for “happened” is because I love when things appear right when I need them).
Book: Microjoys: Finding Hope (Especially) When Life Is Not Okay
My life feels better than OK right now, but I LOVE the idea of finding “Microjoys.” I’ll let you know how it is.
Enjoy the last few days of September.
Have a wonderful day,
Kim
p.s. For the Women: Did you see my upcoming Workshop where I’m going to teach, ‘the SPARK Method?
