Most returning writers are dealing with a much smaller and messier version of that decision. There may be an old manuscript on a hard drive, poems from 20 years ago, half-finished essays, a newsletter that quietly died, or a folder full of work that once mattered enough to save. The interesting question is what, if anything, is still worth bringing back.
That is where my conversation with poet WL Gertz became useful to me. WL Gertz described himself as being “back on the scene after a 50 year hiatus,” but his story is different from MacKenzie Scott’s 13-year gap between published novels. He said he wrote little for a long period, then returned with poetry collections that deliberately combine work from the early 1970s with poetry written in the last two years.
What caught my attention was that WL Gertz did not look at the older work and decide it belonged to some completely different person. He could still recognize himself in it. His style, as he put it, “really hasn’t changed in 50 years.” The bizarre and surrealistic qualities were still there, even though decades had passed and the person doing the reading was obviously older.
That creates a more interesting problem than simply asking whether old writing is good or bad. Some of it may be weak. Some may be dated. Some may contain one strange line, image, argument, or rhythm that still feels more alive than the polished material you could write today.
Returning to creative work starts with figuring out what still deserves another look.
A Return to Publishing Is Only One Decision
MacKenzie Scott’s August release is useful partly because the publishing choice was so specific. She chose Substack as the delivery channel and released the novel in installments during August. For a returning writer, that is a much more practical thing to study than the surrounding celebrity attention.
Access to publication has changed. That does not make all the other parts easy. Getting readers is a separate problem. So are receiving favorable reviews, building an audience that returns, and earning enough from writing to support yourself.
MacKenzie Scott already had enormous name recognition before the first installment appeared. An ordinary writer should be careful about treating the attention around her release as evidence of what Substack, self-publishing, or any other platform will produce for someone without that built-in recognition.
A platform can give you somewhere to publish. It cannot manufacture interest in the work simply because you clicked Publish.
The later criticism makes that distinction even sharper. On September 27, Business Insider published a review by Eve Sneider that was sharply critical of the novel’s storytelling and presentation. That is one critic’s judgment, not a final verdict on the book, but it is a reminder that putting work into circulation does not control the response.
Direct access to readers also does not remove the need for editing. Fewer logistical barriers between writer and reader do not make every draft ready, every strange choice effective, or every old piece worth reviving.
That matters if you have been away from creative work for years. You can spend months wondering whether you are still a writer, whether the market has changed too much, whether your old material matters, or whether you missed your chance. None of those questions has to be settled before you make a smaller decision about one piece of work.
WL Gertz talked about the new environment in practical terms. He remembers when finding obscure poetry, music, literary criticism, or older cultural material took much more effort. In the interview, he talked about the web making that material readily available and specifically mentioned Substack as one of the newer places where writers can publish and readers can discover their work.
He did not say that he personally publishes on Substack. His broader observation was about access. Writers have more ways to put work in circulation than they did when he was young and, as he said, had no idea how to market himself.
That difference is easy to underestimate if you stopped publishing years ago.
A writer coming back after a long absence may no longer be facing the same gatekeeping problem that existed when the work was first written. The harder editorial question can become whether the material deserves publication in its current form.
WL Gertz’s own return helps make that distinction useful. After a long hiatus from the scene, he selected older work, put it alongside newer work, and continued writing.
For an ordinary writer, the sensible scale is one piece and one bounded decision. MacKenzie Scott’s audience is not the model. The useful part of her example is that a return to publication can be an identifiable act rather than a declaration about the rest of your creative life.
Old Work Can Still Sound Like You Without Still Being Good
WL Gertz’s return is useful because he did not treat the older material as something that had to be disguised as new. He described Broken Dreams and Land of Forgotten Fish as collections that clearly separate poems from the early 1970s from work written much more recently.
He also included material connected to dreams magazine, the publication he was involved with in New York that mixed poems, manifestos, literary criticism, and writing about rock and roll.
The older work was not being passed off as if it had all been written yesterday. The newer work did not need to imitate the past.
What surprised WL Gertz was the continuity. Talking about his poetry, he said his style “really hasn’t changed in 50 years.” He described that style as bizarre and surrealistic, and he said he has never liked poetry that feels obvious or predictable.
For a returning writer, that creates a better question than simply asking whether something is old.
You may read something you wrote 15 or 30 years ago and immediately see problems. The sentences are too long. The argument wanders. The references have aged badly. A joke no longer lands. A paragraph explains something three times because you did not yet trust the reader to get it.
None of that makes the entire piece useless.
There may also be something in it that you would have trouble reproducing now. Maybe it is an image you would not think of today. Maybe it is a strange turn of phrase. Maybe it is a point of view you had before years of professional writing taught you to smooth every rough edge.
WL Gertz’s experience is interesting because he recognized the same creative fingerprint across decades. That does not make his early poems automatically good. He is quite blunt about the fact that there is bad poetry in the world, including plenty of it online.
What survived was recognizable character.
That distinction gets lost easily when you return to your own work. Writers can become protective of old material because it feels personal. They can also attack it because it is embarrassing to encounter an earlier version of themselves on the page. Either reaction can make editing harder.
Something coming from an earlier version of you does not make it precious or disposable.
The way WL Gertz assembled his collections provides another useful possibility. Older and newer work can sit next to each other without pretending there was no gap. Time itself can become part of the context.
A returning writer can use that idea without copying his format. An old essay can retain its original date. A poem can be presented with a short note explaining when it was written. An abandoned chapter can supply one scene or argument for something new. A rough piece can be revised instead of preserved intact.
The useful distinction is between identity and execution.
You may recognize your voice in an old piece while admitting that half the sentences need work. You may still like the central idea while deciding the structure has to go. You may find one paragraph that feels unusually alive sitting inside ten pages you never want anyone to see.
At that point, nostalgia has done all the work it can do. Editing has to take over.
The harder editorial problem is deciding whether the strange thing is worth preserving or whether you are defending a weak passage simply because you wrote it years ago.
Keep the Strange Line. Fix the Weak One.
An old piece can contain one sentence you still like and three paragraphs you no longer trust. That is a better starting point than declaring the whole thing brilliant or embarrassing.
WL Gertz gives us a reason to take unusual language seriously. He said he dislikes obvious poetry, described his own work as bizarre and surrealistic, and recognized those qualities in writing separated by decades.
That supports preserving something unusual when it is doing real work. Confusion by itself is not proof of depth.
A strange image can make a reader stop because it opens a new association. A confusing passage can make a reader stop because the sentence has no direction. Those may both feel unconventional on the page, but they are different editorial problems.
Suppose you are rereading an old essay and find one image you would never think to write today. It is specific, odd, and memorable. The paragraph around it circles the same point three times and never quite arrives anywhere.
You do not have to preserve the paragraph to save the image. Keep what has life in it and rebuild the argument around it.
Or suppose an old poem depends on a reference that made immediate sense when you wrote it but now requires context. Changing the poem is only one option. You might preserve the original language and add a short note explaining when it was written or what the reference meant at the time.
That is different from quietly rewriting the past until the old work sounds exactly like something you would produce today.
The same reasoning applies to voice. A younger version of you may have been less polished but more willing to say something awkward, funny, blunt, or unfashionable. Years of professional writing can improve structure while also sanding away habits that gave the work personality.
The goal is not to imitate your younger self. It is to notice whether the old piece contains something distinctive that no longer appears naturally in your newer work.
WL Gertz’s resistance to obvious poetry is useful here as a prompt rather than a rule. Look at the piece and ask what still feels specific enough that another writer probably would not have written it the same way. Then ask whether the surrounding material earns its place around that stronger material.
A distinctive sentence does not rescue a weak argument. A personal memory does not excuse ten pages of repetition. An unusual metaphor does not make a piece finished. You can preserve individuality while cutting aggressively.
One practical way to inspect an older piece is to read it once without editing and mark only what still catches your attention.
Read it again looking for the opposite. Find the passages that are vague, repetitive, unfinished, or dated in a way that creates confusion. On those first two passes, resist the urge to decide the fate of the entire piece.
Then decide what kind of object you actually have.
Maybe the original is mostly sound and needs revision. Maybe its original date and context are important enough that you should preserve them. Maybe one section belongs inside something new. Maybe the only thing worth carrying forward is a single image or argument. Nothing surviving inspection is also a legitimate result.
Opening an old file does not create an obligation to rescue it.
Once you know what is actually there, the decision shrinks to a manageable size. You can decide what happens to this one piece without having to decide whether you are returning as a writer forever.
Publish One Thing Before Planning the Next Ten
Once an older piece has survived that inspection, the next move should fit the material you actually have.
A piece that is mostly sound may deserve a real revision and a publication date. If its age is part of what makes it interesting, its original context may belong beside it. If the whole thing no longer works but one line still has energy, that line can become the beginning of something new.
There is no reason to turn this into a tour of publishing platforms. The important choice is the form that lets you complete this particular piece and put it somewhere another person can encounter it.
For one writer, that might be a revised essay. Another might record a short reading. Someone else may take one usable passage from an old draft and write forward rather than spending weeks repairing a piece they no longer believe in.
WL Gertz’s experience matters here because publication changed what he wanted to do next. He said publishing encouraged him to keep writing, then described the contrast with the long period before his return: “I didn’t write much, I would say for a long time, but now I really want to write again.”
That is his experience. It is not a promise about what publication will do to your motivation.
Your piece may attract very little attention. Finishing it may generate three new ideas, or none. You may discover that you loved revisiting the material but have no interest in returning to a regular writing schedule.
All of those outcomes give you more information than leaving the same file untouched for another five years.
A public deadline can help if you tend to keep revising indefinitely. That is simply an option. Pick a date close enough that you have to make decisions and far enough away that you can do the work properly.
Then keep the assignment from growing.
One revived essay does not require a 12-month content calendar. One rediscovered poem does not require reopening 200 files. A line worth saving does not obligate you to rescue the notebook around it.
Give the piece a boundary and complete the decision you made about it. That is enough to find out whether finishing this one leaves you wanting to write another.
The next decision can stay small.
WL Gertz’s return was not limited to looking backward. He brought earlier work and newer poetry into circulation, recognized parts of himself across that distance, and found that publishing increased his desire to write again.
Give that one piece an honest outcome, whether that means finishing it for readers, using part of it to make something new, or deciding that it has already done all the work it needed to do.
You may have one old piece worth finishing, even if you’re still unsure what comes after it. WL Gertz brought older work back into circulation and found himself wanting to write again, and he’s also one of my co-authors in Decisions, Courage, and Action. Pick up the book on Amazon to read his contribution.
WL Gertz is a poet whose books Broken Dreams and Land of Forgotten Fish combine work from the early 1970s with more recent poetry. His writing draws on travel, New York’s literary and music culture, and the surrealistic style he says has remained recognizable across decades. Earlier in his career, he was involved with dreams magazine, which featured poetry, manifestos, literary criticism, and rock and roll writing. Connect with WL Gertz on LinkedIn.
Media and interview inquiries: To request an interview about poetry and returning to writing, use his contact form.
Lyndsay Phillips covers Content Marketing Strategy in this Marketer of the Day episode. Content marketing works best when you consistently attract ideal customers, build relationships, and guide them toward becoming buyers. Lyndsay summarizes this framework as ABC: attract, build relationships, and convert. She recommends first understanding your perfect client, including where they consume content and which formats such as video, podcasts, or social posts they prefer. Rather than trying every platform at once, businesses should establish a few foundational "boulders," optimize them, and expand gradually. Cross promotion can then move existing audiences between email, YouTube, podcasts, Instagram, and other channels while tracked links reveal which pathways perform best. She also recommends documenting campaigns in spreadsheets and outsourcing lower-value tasks when they cost less than your own hourly value.
Lyndsay Phillips is a serial entrepreneur, self-professed organizational freak, client-appointed task master plus project ninja and warrior content marketer for life & business coaches, accountants and other online entrepreneurs across the globe.
As the CEO & Founder of Smooth Sailing Business Growth & Smooth Business Growth Podcast– 15 Minutes Of Pure Marketing Strategies Proven To Move The Needle. She leads a rock star team to support entrepreneurs who are seeking fast-paced business growth but finally have come to the realization that they can’t do it alone, do it all, and do it well.
She is also loves sharing practical tips, business building & content marketing strategies so that you can be more productive and attract more customers faster.
Quotes
“Content marketing is as easy as ABC: Attract, Build relationships, and Convert.” - Lyndsay Phillips
“I would rather tackle one thing at a time, figure each other out, make sure it's a fit, and have everything dialed in. Then, we can move on to the next thing and adapt from there. It's so much easier on everyone.” - Lyndsay Phillips
“Just take action, love your business, and have fun with it.” - Lyndsay Phillips
Takeaways
03:31 Content marketing works best when you understand exactly where your ideal customers spend their time online.
11:22 Organize your YouTube channel with specific playlists to help viewers easily find and consume your content.
21:30 Measure your time's worth and outsource tasks that cost less than your hourly rate, freeing you to focus on money-making activities.
23:22 Start small with outsourcing by delegating bite-sized tasks and gradually increasing team responsibilities as you build trust.
26:11 Facebook challenges are an effective way to demonstrate expertise and attract potential clients by offering practical, hands-on training.
Marisa Cali is a seasoned digital marketing professional with 12 years of experience specializing in social media strategy and content coaching. She runs her own company, Be Present (formerly All the Social), where she helps B2B businesses and startup founders develop effective personal branding and social media approaches. With a strong background in graphic design and digital marketing, Marisa focuses on helping small teams create authentic and strategic online content.
Quotes
“I have the ability to see the big picture when it comes to figuring out the needs of the client. I ensure that the tasks we implement and the strategies we devise align with their goals.” - Marisa Cali
“Sometimes it takes a while for people to trust you and want to work with you. It's not that quick.” - Marisa Cali
“Figuring out how you can be in front of people, besides just posting static content, is important. People want to see and hear you.” - Marisa Cali
Takeaways
04:39 Authentic online presence matters more than polished, impersonal branding.
08:38 Social media strategy should always start with clear, measurable business goals.
10:21 Consistent content creation requires understanding your target audience and platform dynamics.
19:22 Video content is crucial for connecting with audiences across different platforms.
21:36 LinkedIn is a powerful tool for B2B businesses seeking quality lead generation.
Brian Greenberg covers Content Marketing Strategy in this Marketer of the Day episode. Smart content marketing can generate organic traffic and sales by combining authoritative backlinks, useful content, strong reviews, and a low-friction customer experience. Brian Greenberg prioritizes high-quality links from credible publications and recommends creating roughly 1,000-word expert articles that PR freelancers can pitch for publication. He suggests publishing up to four strong articles per month while building authority through contributor relationships and links from sites such as major business publications. For original content, Greenberg recommends surveys that generate proprietary data, which can attract additional citations and backlinks. Reviews are another conversion asset, with satisfied customers encouraged to post feedback on company websites, Google, and the Better Business Bureau. He also uses tools such as user testing to uncover objections, confusing steps, and sales-process bottlenecks.
Brian J. Greenberg has founded businesses in e-commerce, marketing, and financial services. He has generated over 50 million in revenue from his businesses, collected over 10,000 reviews and testimonials from customers, been named one of the most creative people in financial services, and has been called The Salesman Who Doesn't Sell. As a multi-faceted entrepreneur, Brian believes in building integrity into everything he does, operating a business for the long term with a strong reputation, and a commitment to exceptional customer service. Brian is the founder and president of True Blue Life Insurance, whose mission is to be transparent, honest and helpful to their customers without ever bugging or pushing them. Brian also runs e-commerce websites at Touchfree Concepts and Wholesale Janitorial Supply.
Quotes:
“If it's not something a real company would do, don't do it. I focus my energy on writing valuable content, doing PR, and writing the book to get links to my website so I can compete with the big guys.” – Brian Greenberg
“The number one thing to do for reviews is ask, and the time to ask is at the end, when you deliver the service and ask them a simple question: Are you happy? Are you satisfied?” - Brian Greenberg
“I wanted to differentiate myself, portray myself as the good guy in the insurance industry. I wanted to do it the honest, ethical, and transparent way.” - Brian Greenberg
Takeaways:
11:11 Writing quality content requires time and careful editing, not just quick production.
14:33 Marketing articles beyond your website increases their visibility and impact.
21:08 Smoothing out customer experience bottlenecks can significantly improve conversion rates.
25:13 Fewer, more qualified leads are better than a high volume of uninterested contacts.
27:00 Delegating mechanical tasks allows entrepreneurs to focus on marketing and growth.
Michael Greenberg covers Authority Content Marketing in this Marketer of the Day episode. Strategic content creation helps small businesses build authority, generate referrals, and attract leads without trying to publish more than everyone else. Michael Greenberg advocates a hybrid human-machine approach that can streamline content creation while preserving genuine expertise. He argues that effective content depends more on expertise and user intent than on chasing keyword tricks. Small businesses also do not need to compete with massive publishers such as TechCrunch to establish authority in their markets. Greenberg recommends local podcasting as a networking strategy because conversations create relationships while building useful authority content. He also favors promoting one excellent piece of content for six months over repeatedly publishing mediocre material without meaningful promotion.
Michael Greenberg is the founder of Gentleman Of Technology LLC, a B2B venture creation and strategy consulting firm. Patrick Gusman, entrepreneur and former CIO for the National Urban League, has called him “A positioning guru extraordinaire and is one of those rare young geniuses,” and Alex Nichols referred to him as “A horse whisperer for marketers, business thinkers, business owners, and is a bit of a renaissance man; a jack-of-all-trades, master of many. Whether its emerging tech, community building, short and long-term strategy, or content building, I know that I can trust Michael's research and experience.”
Michael recently launched a new content marketing venture, and has just written a book entitled Authority Marketing Playbook. This recent publication focuses on helping small business owners, consultants, and executive coaches to position themselves with content. The Authority Marketing Playbook helps them find their voice and grow their businesses using a variety of tactics and strategies Michael has developed over his distinguished career.
Michael launched his newest venture under the GOT banner, Call For Content, in January of 2017 after almost two years of market research and process development and currently serves as Chief Strategist and Interviewer. Understanding that his knowledge and content development processes are unparalleled, he provides unique insight into growing businesses of all types. His expert proficiency has propelled both he and his clients by setting a new value standard in content marketing.
Quotes:
“Google wants to understand from what you type in, what you're thinking of, and then put it on the other end. Google's entire update scheme is to push closer and closer to that.” – Michael Greenberg
“As long as they know who I am and what I do, then the referrals will come.” - Michael Greenberg
“If you have one great piece of content and you promote it for six months, you'll get more leads than if you put out a mediocre piece of content every month and don't promote it at all.” - Michael Greenberg
Takeaways:
04:10 A hybrid human-machine approach can streamline content creation efficiently.
06:55 Creating content is more about expertise and intent than keyword tricks.
10:11 Small businesses don't need to compete with massive content producers like TechCrunch.
17:36 Local podcasting is an excellent networking strategy for building business relationships.
22:25 Promoting one great piece of content is better than creating multiple mediocre pieces.
Anfernee Chansamooth covers Content Marketing in this Marketer of the Day episode. Anfernee Chansamooth explains how businesses can simplify content marketing by focusing on original expertise, proven channels, and consistent repurposing instead of chasing every new tactic. His process starts by identifying the one marketing activity most likely to increase qualified leads over the next three to six months. For one client, shifting from generic curated social posts to original LinkedIn content helped three posts generate roughly 70,000 views in 30 days. He recommends repurposing strong material across LinkedIn, Medium, Quora, podcasts, YouTube, email, and blog content. Chansamooth also uses competitor research, audience research, SWOT analysis, and 60-to-90-day experiments to decide which channels deserve continued investment. His broader framework addresses prioritization, marketing expertise, sales alignment, repeatable systems, and better data.
Anfernee Chansamooth is a virtual Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Authentic Influence podcast host and Founder of Simple Creative Marketing. He helps emerging leaders to clarify and build their authentic brand, income and influence online. Simple Creative Marketing focuses on simplifying marketing for growth startups.
Five Key Challenges
prioritization: getting activities in order for maximum ROI
marketing expertise
misalignment in marketing: sales vs. objections
systems/process: team
insufficient data to make smart decisions
Quotes:
“We're all about taking something that is potentially very confusing for a lot of people and simplifying the steps to help small businesses and startups acquire leads online.” – Anfernee Chansamooth
“A lot of founders produce good quality content, but they're not doing enough work to get it out there and in front of the right audiences.” – Anfernee Chansamooth
“It's not about trying to replicate someone else's model or personality because there are people who resonate with who you are as a business and as a voice.” – Anfernee Chansamooth
Takeaways:
04:40 Quality content matters more than quantity when marketing your business online.
12:30 Repurposing a single piece of content across multiple platforms can maximize your marketing reach.
22:15 Not every potential customer is ready to buy immediately; some are in research mode and need to build trust.
27:20 Startups should focus on one key marketing activity that can potentially double their leads in six months.
32:00 Having clear marketing systems and processes is critical for consistent business growth.
David Ralph covers Podcast Growth Strategy in this Marketer of the Day episode. David Ralph explains how bold decisions, focused work, and lessons from past experiences can help entrepreneurs build successful businesses without sacrificing their lives. After experiencing burnout twice, he deliberately reduced distractions, eliminated mobile notifications, and structured his podcasting work into only three days each month. Instead of obsessing over downloads, he tracks three practical metrics: list growth, meaningful connections, and monthly revenue. His "connect the dots" philosophy emphasizes that skills gained from earlier jobs and difficult experiences often become valuable only when viewed in hindsight. Ralph also recommends stripping away unnecessary work so entrepreneurs can produce better results while protecting their energy and free time. One memorable example involves a photographer who boldly approached Richard Branson about becoming a space photographer, dramatically narrowing his competition simply by taking action others would avoid.
David Ralph hosts the online show Join Up Dots, where in each episode he takes his guests on a journey of discovery following the words of the late Steve Jobs.
From birth to today and back again David Ralph, joins up the dots of his guests lives, highlighting their failures and successes as he leads them to the time travel section "The Sermon On The Mic" where they have the chance to speak to their younger selves and share the advice they have gained.
David stops by to talk about his podcast, how to get off the treadmill, the three metrics that matter in your online business, how to avoid the comparison trap, and how to overcome burnout.
Quotes:
“I'm in competition with myself. I'm in a category of myself. I'm trying to make as much money as possible, have as much fun as possible, and have as much free time as possible.” – David Ralph
“The problem is not the driving; the problem is the stopping. I'm always looking at something else, so I've had to make a conscious decision.” – David Ralph
“If you're feeling a way you can't really pinpoint, more often than not, it's because your body's saying you've had enough.” – David Ralph
Takeaways:
02:14 Stripping away unnecessary work and distractions can lead to better productivity and personal satisfaction.
11:39 Burnout often stems from pushing too hard and not recognizing personal limits.
16:40 Skills from previous life experiences can unexpectedly prepare you for future ventures.
21:41 Making bold, creative decisions can open unexpected opportunities with less competition.
23:48 Focusing on personal metrics like list growth and income is more meaningful than external comparisons.
Kevin Van Eekeren covers Startup Decision Making in this Marketer of the Day episode. Kevin Van Eekeren explains how entrepreneurs and investors can make better decisions by prioritizing facts, strong teams, honest feedback, and disciplined evaluation. His experience taught him that information sources often reward sensationalism, making independent critical thinking essential before acting. Entrepreneurs benefit more from fast and honest assessments than from prolonged encouragement that avoids difficult realities. When evaluating startups, Van Eekeren places substantial weight on the founding team because strong people can adapt when products, industries, or plans change. Investors should follow an objective process that reduces personal bias and tests whether the people involved can actually execute. Business owners must also eventually move from doing everything themselves to guiding strategy while capable team members handle execution.
Kevin Van Eekeren started his career as a logistic officer for a SWAT team, which gave him insight into the criminal justice world, and he soon found that through training SWAT teams better he could reduce the use of force while bettering the national security of our country. Fulcrum Tactical was born out of that idea, and within 18 months he expanded it from a charity to a for-profit company. He started investing in startups on the side but focused on Fulcrum Tactical and his new venture, Fulcrum Farms a sustainable farm producing high-quality meat and eggs for families and restaurants in the Chicagoland area. After six years Kevin sold Fulcrum Tactical and moved on to investing in startups full-time by starting Fulcrum Investing. Kevin spends his free time co-hosting The State of Logic Podcast and has also continued his passion for farming.
Quotes:
“While we never want to hurt anyone's feelings, it's also important to give people our honest assessment of the possible ability for success of an idea or a company.” – Kevin Van Eekeren
“It is the investor's job to call an ugly baby an ugly baby when necessary, in order to be the best person you can be for that entrepreneur.” – Kevin Van Eekeren
“The CEO cannot be working in the business. He has to be working on the business.” – Kevin Van Eekeren
Takeaways:
03:12 Media and information sources often prioritize sensationalism over truth, making critical thinking and fact-checking essential.
06:33 Quick, honest feedback is more valuable to entrepreneurs than prolonged, sugar-coated responses.
09:18 Startup success depends more on the quality of the founding team than the specific industry or product.
09:49 Successful investing requires a rigorous, objective process that removes personal bias and focuses on the entrepreneur's potential.
15:00 Building a business means focusing on the big picture strategy while empowering a skilled team to handle execution details.
We're talking today about how you too can create a podcast that cranks out content every single day, 5 episodes per week. How do you find the time? What tools do you use? How do you keep yourself from running out of content? We tackle all that and more in today's episode.
Quotes:
“If you rely on no system, you're almost guaranteed to fail. If you rely on being enthusiastic and excited every single day of the week, that's a recipe for failure too.” – Robert Plank
“Don't focus on making your podcast neat, tidy, and thorough with all your segments. You don't need any of that.” – Robert Plank
“The better you get at speaking extemporaneously, the more you'll understand how it's going.” – Robert Plank
Takeaways:
05:26 Creating a daily podcast requires a solid system and preparation, not just daily motivation.
11:53 Batch your podcast production tasks to save time and maintain consistent content flow.
20:48 Interview guests from different backgrounds to keep your podcast fresh and expand your content range.
26:47 Focus on delivering valuable content over perfect production quality.
27:47 Start small and build your podcast consistently, even if you can't immediately achieve a daily format.
Lain Ehmann, bestselling author and communications strategist, specializes in helping six and seven figure entrepreneurs uncover hidden profits and potential. Her superpower is saying what your customers and clients really need to hear, to get the results you want as quickly as possible.
Lain shares ways to repurpose your content (not just in media such as YouTube or podcasting) but also in terms of content types such as relationship building, storytelling, or expert articles. If you'd like to get more eyeballs on your websites, amp up your content marketing, or do more in less time, listen to today's episode.
Quotes:
“They know they have value. They know they can help their target audience, but they don't always know how to translate it. They're so into the jargon, so into the technology, that they don't always know how to turn it into value-driven messaging and language their audience can respond to.” – Lain Ehmann
“Very few people see everything you put out. So, the fact that you tell them in one place, then again somewhere else—very few people will actually remember reading it.” – Lain Ehmann
“What got you here won't get you there. You have to change things up. It will take you so far, and then you have to try something else.” – Lain Ehmann
Takeaways:
02:20 Translate technical expertise into clear, value-driven language that helps your audience understand your unique solution.
10:46 Don't just create more content; strategically repurpose existing content across different channels with tailored messaging.
17:43 Most people won't see or remember all your content, so repeating your core message through different mediums is crucial.
21:40 Build a content strategy by starting with your unique promise and working backwards to create consistent, channel-specific messaging.
24:18 Reward your super fans by providing unique content across different platforms, not just duplicating the same material.
Lyndsay Phillips knows all about content marketing and wants you to use whatever tool fits your personality, whether that's blogging, videos, or podcasting. Ideally, you should blog weekly, use social media three times per day, publish one weekly video, and podcast every two weeks or so. She shares many content strategies and hacks to get the most of your day and your business. For example, an easy method for most people is to simply carve out that time in the calendar for content creation.
Quotes:
“If you don't say yes and step outside your comfort zone, I don't think you can grow as a person, as an entrepreneur, or grow your business successfully.” – Lyndsay Phillips
“The key is to be consistent. The key is to push it out through email and social media, and to make sure you're engaging with people on social media.” – Lyndsay Phillips
“Social media and content marketing are a long game. It's not a quick fix where you post a couple of times and someone buys your $500 course—it just doesn't work that way.” – Lyndsay Phillips
Takeaways:
03:05 Content marketing success hinges on choosing platforms that match your personal strengths and comfort level.
11:40 Tracking analytics and being willing to adjust your content strategy based on audience engagement is crucial for long-term growth.
17:51 Content marketing is a long-term strategy that builds trust, brand awareness, and relationships, not a quick path to immediate sales.
25:16 Outsourcing content creation can be more cost-effective than spending your own high-value time on tasks that can be done more efficiently by others.
28:07 Consistency trumps perfection when creating content - regular, scheduled output matters more than flawless production.
Listen in as Shannon shares content ideas with us (benefits, drawbacks, why vs. alternatives), how to pace yourself, stay in alignment, and attract the right people into your business.
Quotes:
“Don't be who you're not. People will see through that—whether it's your message, your marketing, or the content you're putting out into the world.” – Shannon Hernandez
“When you're having fun in your business and fun in life, it's fun to keep going, it's inspiring, and you're getting results.” – Shannon Hernandez
“Honor people's time and space, and let's give them what they need right away.” – Shannon Hernandez
Takeaways:
07:43 Matching content creation to your personality helps you enjoy marketing and attract the right audience.
15:22 You don't need to create content in every format - focus on your top two content personality types.
18:31 Quality matters more than quantity when producing content for your business.
22:05 Consistency in content creation builds your brand's reputation and expertise.
23:25 Give yourself permission to stop creating content that feels like a chore.
Catchphrase of the Week: Content Piggy Bank: What Would It Take For You to Record Just One Quick Video Per Day? Resource of Week: X-Mirage to mirror iphone/ipad and record it on your computer Quote of the Week: "If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." -- Napoleon Hill Quote of the Week #2: "Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out." -- Robert Collier Quote of the Week #3: "Don't wish it was easier. Wish you were better." -- Jim Rohn Become Better: 30 minutes to say something that could be said in 1 minute?
System & Routine
1. Small goals: 10-minute spurts or 500-word days. Create a sense of urgency to avoid Parkinson's Law (and possibly run a countdown timer) 2. Update an editorial calendar so you know what you're writing each day (Seinfeld productivity where you want to "avoid the broken chain of events") 3. Use writer's block to perform more research 4. Wake up an hour earlier (Elmore Leonard)
Tools & Mechanics
5. Delegate transcription and speak it out instead (MakeAProduct.com) 6. Use Google image search to find relevant images (don't forget to source them) 7. Grab a YouTube video and explain your reaction to it (before or against) 8. Break down pages into paragraphs, into talking points + time
Mind Hacks
9. Read a lot 10. Unplug distractions 11. Write your chapter/article titles as questions and paragraphs as questions, then delete the questions later (record yourself and send questions and answers to yourself via instant messenger) 12. Use a daily prompt 13. Break up your monotonous routine: go for a drive, walk, swim, run 14. Combine a task you don't like to do with one you do like to do, i.e. Write a quick blog post by the pool 15. Set a fake meeting schedule on your calendar and use the time for yourself
Bonus: Toughen Up That Writing
Avoid "ing"... say "set" instead of "setting"
Repetitions: remove "click here" every 2 sentences. "Please" every 2 sentences.
Words to stop using: Try, start -- Trick, loophole, hacked -> secret -- Work, learn -> discover, uncover
Tone down these words: Money-back/refund
Words to use: System, formula, roadmap, blueprint, Machine, Push button, Secret weapon, Magic bullet
Quote of the Day: "You cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say “yes'." -- Stephen Colbert
Thought of the Day: Is internet marketing a scam? Yes, if you believe that going in. Classic fear of success, self sabotage, self-fulfulling prophecy
Nine Rules of Content Creation
Questions Must Be Answered: so if you're stuck, answer a series of questions (asked TO you by one single imaginary person) that lead to the end
Solution: Fix a real problem that the marketplace is asking about, and lead to a call-to-action if possible
WWHW: Why, What, How-To, What-If (the basis for any start-to-finish piece of content)
One-Take Content: write (or talk in video) the way you would in everyday conversation (no "fancy talk")
Mindmap: rearrange to figure out the categories, hierarchy, and sequence of what you're explaining
Notes: Have bullet points in front of you to keep yourself on track, don't leave things out, and unpack in the correct order, but don't script anything
Content Muscle: the more you put out blog posts, podcasts, webinars, and videos... the easier they become
Content Piggy Bank: instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck, record more than you need and schedule it out
Demo or Magic Trick: show what you're building towards, explain what you're about to show, show that thing, and show it again
Be sure to grab our Make a Product course to up your game with content creation and self-publish your own book (on Kindle and CreateSpace) in just 56 minutes.
"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." -- Steve Jobs "A real decision is meausred by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided." -- Tony Robbins
Criteria for updating a course you're selling:
Has it be at least 1 year since I launched this?
Is it still selling, or have sales dropped off slightly? (as I'm promoting it heavily?)
Is there something new I'd change in each module of this course?
Is there a new sexy hook I can add to justify this new course? (examples: transcripts for videos, tools/templates, coaching calls using TimeTrade)
Tune in to today's Robert Plank Show where we talk about taking action and how to decide between the "product launch frenzy" versus income streams that make you money for years to come...
Dave Koziel from PublishWithDave.com is going to tell us how he makes $10,000 to $30,000 per month from Amazon Kindle. He's created 60 to 80 Kindle books (6,000 to 12,000 words in length) for $80-$150.
Some books produce hundreds per month while even the "duds" generate $20-$25 per month. He's going to share not only his numbers and "ah-ha" moments, but his secret strategies for making money with Amazon Kindle publishing. (As well as CreateSpace physical books and ACX Audible audiobooks.) Topics covered:
How to make money with Amazon Kindle without writing any of your own books (Dave only wrote two of his own books, for fun)
How even an underforming book (6,000 to 12,000 words in length) makes Dave about $25 per month and can make as many as hundreds of dollars per month (so how many books like these would you outsource?)
The secret to getting Amazon buyers off Amazon and onto your list
How to get started with that first Kindle book
Get more reviews from your Amazon books using review swaps
Let's talk today about "business card" books to build your business. You should get your best ideas down, and re-use (even sometimes repeating yourself) your best content, especially in the form of digital and physical books. Amazon lets you publish an unlimited number books, so you might as well make the most of it.
Marketer of the Week: Jeff Mills (be the salesman -- best salesman for an app creator but he didn't even make the product)
Quote of the Week: "When you focus on problems, you'll have more problems. When you focus on possibilities, you'll have more opportunities." -- Unknown
Catchphrase of the week: "Don't live life with one foot on the brake." Comfort zone, money zone. Nobody likes a backseat driver.
Thought of the week: What if you just put 10 minutes a day into that goal? Put aside $10 a day to build your business? Read just 1 page from a book per day?
This is how I automate my posting of social media... I can post an entry to my blog and it cross-posts to my Facebook fan page... but THEN replicates to Twitter, my other Facebook fan pages, and my personal Facebook wall. I also have triggers that go off when I upload a YouTube video:
You can connect all kinds of cool stuff. For example, send me a text message reminder at the same time every day, or populate a Google spreadsheet when I add a file to Dropbox, and more:
I'm finally starting to get it. The newbie mindset (or clarity mindset). Your training should "lean" towards the newbies and making a sense of the mess, with some how-to thrown in.
If you don't have a blog, YouTube channel, an affiliate program, and lots of free content or search results where people can find you, then that's yet one more tool that your competitors have at their disposal, that you don't.
Useful content: weekly podcast, weekly video, weekly blog post.
Ideas: roundup your favorite links, post an embed reactor (a YouTube video and your opinion underneath it), become a "data scientist" and share your results
Think beyond just a blog: guest posts, podcast, book, viral videos
Mild keyword stuffing: use phrases people are searching
(Steve Celeste wasn't actually his real name, and his blog is long gone, but you can check out an archive on the Wayback Machine.)
Steve Celeste's blog and marketing training gave me the idea of creating a "build it to sell it" site. We used that model on DailySeminar.com. I didn't want to commit to a chore of having to crank out membership content on a regular basis, so we listed it for sale even as we were launching it. I also made sure things like the Clickbank account, membership software, etc. were all things that could be detached.
The site only had 53 members paying $47/month, but we had 55 "weeks" of content (20 minute Monday training, 20 minute Tuesday training, 20 minute Wednesday interview, Thursday bonus report, and Friday question day) created in advance. That part took about 40 hours of total "work" -- mostly recording training. We launched it on December 15th of (year removed but it was over 8 years ago). By February 27th of the following year, we had a buyer for $32,000 for everything. $32,000 from 40 hours? That's not a bad payday.
How do you decide what info to give away or charge for? The answer: Use the "William Shatner" model (he has 228 acting credits on IMDB, appeared as himself in 357 more appearances, 9 CDs on Amazon, and 70 books on Amazon). Keep putting stuff out there.
Reasons People Buy From You
They love you: they buy everything you put out (top 1%)
They want it (fad or trend): You got in front of a wave, i.e. everyone's talking about membership sites or one click funnels so you're teaching that
They need it: you're solving a real problem (people will always need to know about affiliate programs, copywriting, etc.)
Fear, convenience, entertainment
What path brings people to you? Our favorite Platinum studnet (Dr. Charles) came from a Jeff Mills guest webinar we presented, then he attended our live event in Salt Lake City and joined our Platinum there. Another Platinum client came from a one-time $997 mastermind session we both attended in Las Vegas. Yet another Platinum student of ours came from a speaking gig where I presented an pitched a $997 offer in San Diego.
Blogging and podcasting the "random-ness" (mindset etc) has put me on a path for the big ideas for books and courses. Here's where I stay in inspired and get a "feel" for what's popular and what people want to hear (without becoming a copycat or a me-too):
Facebook: Unfollow the negative nelly, political complainers or time vampires on Facebook and instead follow: BusinessInsider, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc Magazine, Fast Company.
It's also been helpful seeing bloggers like Tim Ferriss from the Four Hour Workweek write long-form blog posts in an era where people are trying to tell you that attention spans are down. John Lee Dumas from Entrepreneur on Fire consistently publishes 5 podcast interviews per week (now well over 1100+) which I find super cool. IMNewsWatch is yet another example of sites that put out tons and tons of helpful free content that lead to things to buy.
Follow a formula with your writing, like this:
How to (3 things -- each crazier than the last), without (blank) -- add a keyword or two if you can
Questions, categories: create some kind of order or structure from the huge mess of possibilities
7 ways, 12 tweaks, 35 websites
You don't have to write "poetry" as you're not Seth Godin. Provide value and don't worry about rhyming, or being catchy.
Tip of the Week: I use Zapier to either propagate social media, or notify you every day to produce or publish that content. The most prolific writers have a schedule.
Five Steps to Profitable Content Marketing
Part 1: Consistent podcasting. Join us inside of PodcastCrusher.com to get your podcast up and running in 5 minutes, so you can double dip untapped search results and get listed in BOTH Google and iTunes.
Part 2: 5 minute YouTube videos all week to capture those searches. What do people actually search for? Check out 100 competing YouTube videos with high view counts and group them 4-5 categories. If you haven't experimented sending your subscribers to a video or blog post, you need to. It stirs up the list and gets people to login again.
Part 3: Blogging ideas. Here are some ideas if you're stuck:
A. Why did you get started? Early successes and failures B. What angers you? What's being done wrong in your industry and what are you reacting to? C. Or, just give me something helpful
Part 4: Book. Combine your your best stuff (greatest hits) into a Word document. MakeAProduct.com shows you how to use Kindle and CreateSpace to put out your hardcover and softcover books.
Part 5: Accidental sales. This is where you have so much free stuff out there, that it's hard to tell where your sales exactly came from... iTunes, YouTube, Kindle, your blog, or just a plain Google search. Put out something high ticket, or something with a payment plan and yearly support. This is great for software.
Now that you've used content marketing to feel your niche out... what does their business depend on? What tool or service could you put out there to 10X their business and make them depend on you, in a good way? Maybe you create template sites for offline businesses and charge $2400/mo to keep them going (like Lance and I do). Maybe you create a managed AdWords ad maintenance service, or a Facebook ad service.
The point is, many marketers have a scarcity mindset when it comes to being helpful and putting out content. They're "afraid" of sharing anything cool because they're worried that sharing something for free takes out of a paid product.
My answer to that is to use that free content marketing as a way of getting the bugs out, and build something software or service based into your products so it doesn't matter how much "free" information is out there. They still need your software (or tool) to make it happen.
One of the best ways to make money online is to create content that solves problems but a lot of us struggle with writer's block. The answer to that "blank page" is to have a system.
Don't be afraid that using a system or a template will result in something that is bland and not unique. It's quite the opposite. The best thing about using a system is that you get the thing DONE.
Three Elements of A System
The system component-you can think of it as your approach, the actual "1-2-3" of getting words on paper. For example, if you're creating a 400-word article, don't say 400! That sounds huge.
Instead, break it down into: Title, Intro, 3 points, Summary, and a Call to Action. Now, what if each of these sections was 50 words? Sounds a lot better, right? You can make things even easier by turning everything into a question.
This is a really easy way to do it. Act like you're having a conversation with someone about your subject and think what they would ask about your subject. The answers become your text.
Example: What are the 3 things I need to have when playing the guitar? Instead of your title being "Guitar Basics", it becomes, "How Do I Play the Guitar Quickly?"
Another Approach is "So What?"
This is really helpful in a sales letter. If you notice you have a weak headline and bullet points, pretend someone is saying to you "So what?"
You are forced to answer back with something compelling and exciting and emotional. Now, you have script that will hold your buyer's attention!
Keep in mind that with sales letters (and with books), you are going to lose someone every 10 minutes. So, for every 10 minutes of reading, you need to have something really exciting and compelling to keep them engaged.
Make your buyer say "I don't know", with your email headlines.
This is the most effective approach for email marketing.
We want to present a question that arouses curiosity.
Ex: Don't do a headline like "Simple Guitar Playing."
Instead, your headline should be "Are you missing out on these 3 simple guitar tricks?"
Then, your buyer is saying, "I don't know. Am I? Let me click over to this link and see".
Type out sentences that are only 7 words in length. It sounds silly, but it forces you to keep your language simple. Outside of academia, you don't want to use complicated language and long sentences. It turns internet readers off.
Think of keywords if you're really stuck. If you are still really stuck, think in terms of keywords. Have one keyword for each of your 3 bullet points.
For example, if you're writing about webinars, your keywords are: "title, date, and time."
Then, your first bullet point is on "I create a compelling title for my webinar", the 2nd bullet point is, "The date is more important than you might think because of your demographic" and the 3rd point would be, "Consider your customers' time zones carefully when you're scheduling."
Time Management: Give Yourself a Time Frame
You really need to do this. If you give yourself unlimited time, the odds are you will sit in front of that blank page for 5 hours with no results.
At one point, Robert spoke out 100 articles in one day. How?!!?
If you try to think of 100 subjects that your business covers, you're probably going to get overwhelmed and walk away. Instead, think of just TEN subjects and then break those down into 10 prompts (or questions) for those categories.
For example, if your business is guitar instruction, your categories might be: equipment, beginner, advanced, starting a band, album recording, etc. Then, for equipment, you'd have "acoustic vs. electric" as a prompt. For starting a band, a prompt would be "how to book shows."
With this approach, Robert just started answering and recording the questions/prompts, one after the other and each one took about 3-4 minutes.
For this, he used his Logitech Headset and Camtasia for recording. He gave himself 1-hour blocks for each category. If each prompt = 4 minutes, you can do 40 articles and have about a 20 minute break.
That timeframe sounds really tight but if you force yourself to cram a lot into a little space of time, you end up with something better than if you had all the time in the world to blather on.
The Motivation: this one is simple. For most people, that's the money. You need to put content out there if you're going to sell anything.
The "10-7-4" Mind Hack
It's easiest to think of 10 things that people need and want to know about anything. This mind hack gets you trained to brainstorm quickly and then easily find the best to offer your customers.
It's super easy. Think of 10 questions. Write them all down. Cross out the weakest 3. Now you have 7 points left. Here's how you use them! For an e-book: You now have 7 chapters. Pick the best 4, which are going to be aimed at your beginners and basic knowledge. Put those in the front. Leave the rest for the remaining 3 chapters.
For more info on how to jet-fuel your e-book writing and publishing, go to Robert's course at Make a Product.
For a Sales Letter: you have 7 modules now that you can offer in your product you're selling. Your best 4 are going to be what your program actually is and the remaining 3 modules can be your bonuses.
For more info on how to write a great sales letter FAST, check out Robert's course called Speed Copy.
For a Webinar: compress your 7 down to 4. Most webinars should only contain about 4 in an hour's time. Then, those 4 can actually mirror the 4 modules of your product. You can use the additional 3 points to interweave throughout your presentation but you're focusing on your best 4.
For a great course on how to start and run your own webinars in no time flat, check out Webinar Crusher.
Today's Take-Aways and Some Extra Advice
You need to be excited about the content that you're creating so that you will finish it.
Don't use $10 words. Write the way you actually talk. If you write an "English paper", you'll lose customers.
If you can dictate your articles, etc., that's even better. Usually, the way you FIRST said something is just about right.
It's more important to have it all down and edit later than have nothing. If you keep trying to edit while you're writing, you will never get anything done. It's important to create and put out a lot of stuff because you don't know which is going to pan out.
You want to get to the point where you are churning out content in one-take and you have a pool of content. You need to have a system, time management and motivation working together.
Get all the latest insights with membership sites, passive income, mindset, and more.
About Robert & The Podcast
The Marketer of the Day Podcast interviews entrepreneurs who have been through “the struggle.”
They’ve experienced the headaches of repeat failure, trial-and-error, scaling, delegating, course-correcting, and getting their online businesses to succeed beyond their wildest dreams… and want to help you get to where you need to go.
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