MBA2490 How to Make Time For Content Creation in Your Business

Summary

The $100 MBA Show: MBA2490 – How to Make Time For Content Creation in Your Business

Host: Omar Zenhom
Release Date: July 5, 2024
Duration: Approximately 14 minutes

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Introduction to Content Creation Prioritization

[01:12] Omar Zenhom:
Omar opens the episode by addressing a common dilemma among entrepreneurs: the struggle to find time for content creation amidst the myriad responsibilities of running a business. He emphasizes the critical role content plays in brand building and audience engagement, stating, "Content creation is crucial for building our brand... to engage with our audience and drive growth." Omar draws from his extensive experience of publishing over 2,400 podcast episodes and managing two seven-figure businesses to establish his authority on the subject.

1. Prioritizing Content Creation

[02:30] Omar Zenhom:
Omar underscores the necessity of treating content creation as a core component of business strategy rather than an optional task. "Treat content creation as a core part of your business strategy, not just an afterthought." He shares insights from his tenure at Webinar Ninja, where consistent content was pivotal to their growth. By dedicating specific, non-negotiable times each week exclusively for creating content, Omar ensured that content remained a top priority. He advocates for time blocking as a productivity hack, advising listeners to "put it in your calendar and make the time for it." This structured approach prevents content creation from being sidelined by other business activities.

2. Delegating and Outsourcing Content Tasks

[05:15] Omar Zenhom:
Recognizing that content creation involves multiple steps beyond ideation and production, Omar advises entrepreneurs to delegate or outsource non-core tasks. He explains, "Focus on the content creation and let somebody or some people take care of the rest." This includes editing, mastering audio, rendering files, uploading content, and even marketing. Omar suggests leveraging existing team members by identifying tasks they can take on or hiring freelancers and agencies to handle specialized roles. He recommends creating a comprehensive task list to determine which aspects can be outsourced, thereby allowing business owners to concentrate on what they do best.

3. Leveraging Templates and Tools

[07:45] Omar Zenhom:
To streamline the content creation process, Omar highlights the importance of utilizing systems, templates, and tools. "Templates provide a structure that you can follow, reducing the time spent thinking about a format." For instance, he mentions using standardized blog post templates that include an introduction, key points, examples, and a conclusion. Additionally, tools like Canva are recommended for creating visually appealing social media posts quickly. By implementing these resources, entrepreneurs can focus more on content quality rather than getting bogged down by formatting and design decisions.

4. Repurposing Content Effectively

[08:50] Omar Zenhom:
Omar discusses the benefits of repurposing content without compromising quality. He cautions against "hacky" repurposing that diminishes content value but emphasizes that thoughtful repurposing can extend reach and engagement. An example he shares is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s podcast, where an AI voice replicates Arnold’s to transform his weekly newsletter into an audio format. This approach ensures that content remains high-quality while being adapted for different platforms. Omar advises, "Repurpose your content in a way that doesn't lower the quality, but in fact enhances your work and gets it out to more people."

5. Avoiding Overwhelm and Maintaining Consistency

[11:09] Omar Zenhom:
In the latter part of the episode, Omar addresses the risk of overwhelming oneself with content creation. He recommends starting with manageable goals, such as one blog post or one video per week, rather than attempting to produce daily content. "At the start, nail the systems and nail the cadence and nail your consistency and reduce the load." Once a consistent rhythm is established and the underlying systems are in place, entrepreneurs can gradually increase their output. This phased approach ensures sustainability and prevents burnout, allowing content creation to become a lasting component of the business strategy.

6. The Power of Batching Tasks

[13:30] Omar Zenhom:
Closing the episode, Omar introduces the concept of batching—performing similar tasks in dedicated blocks of time to enhance efficiency. "Batching allows you to get more done because you're just focused on doing one type of task." For example, he batches planning sessions separately from recording sessions to avoid the cognitive fatigue associated with task-switching. By organizing tasks into distinct blocks, entrepreneurs can maintain focus and improve productivity, making the content creation process more manageable and less time-consuming.

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Key Takeaways

1. Prioritize Content Creation: Treat it as a core business strategy and schedule dedicated time blocks in your calendar.
2. Delegate and Outsource: Focus on creation while delegating editing, publishing, and marketing to team members or external agencies.
3. Utilize Templates and Tools: Streamline processes with standardized templates and efficient tools like Canva.
4. Repurpose Thoughtfully: Extend content lifespan and reach without compromising quality by adapting it for various platforms.
5. Maintain Consistency Without Overwhelm: Start with achievable goals and gradually scale up as systems and rhythms are established.
6. Batch Similar Tasks: Increase productivity by grouping similar activities, reducing mental fatigue from task switching.

Notable Quotes

• Omar Zenhom on Prioritization:
  "If it's important, make sure it's on the calendar. If it's not on your calendar, it doesn't actually happen." [03:45]

• On Delegation:
  "Focus on the content creation and let somebody or some people take care of the rest." [06:00]

• Regarding Templates:
  "Templates provide a structure that you can follow, reducing the time spent thinking about a format." [07:55]

• On Avoiding Overwhelm:
  "At the start, nail the systems and nail the cadence and nail your consistency and reduce the load." [11:15]

• About Batching:
  "Batching allows you to get more done because you're just focused on doing one type of task." [13:50]

Conclusion

Omar Zenhom provides a comprehensive guide for entrepreneurs aiming to integrate consistent content creation into their busy schedules. By prioritizing content, delegating tasks, leveraging tools, repurposing intelligently, maintaining a sustainable pace, and batching similar activities, business owners can effectively manage their content strategies without overwhelming themselves. These actionable strategies empower entrepreneurs to enhance their brand presence and drive business growth through disciplined and efficient content creation.

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For more insights and practical business lessons, visit The $100 MBA Show.

Transcript

[Omar Zenhom]

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[Co-host or Audience Member]

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[Co-host or Audience Member]

No fluff, just the good stuff with our practical business lessons. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zenholm. And in today's lesson, you will learn how to make time for content creation in your business. So many people say to me, omar, I know the power of content marketing. I want to create videos, I want to create a podcast, I want to start blogging again. But where am I going to get the time? How do I make time to create content for my business? Well, today's episode is for you. First of all, we all know that content creation is crucial for building our brand. Whatever business we're in, it's an important practice so that we can engage with our audience and through that engagement, drive growth. But finding time to create it can be tough, especially when you're juggling a million other things and managing your business. Trust me, I know. I've run this podcast for nearly 10 years, publishing over 2,400 episodes while running two seven figure businesses. So I'm a little bit of an authority on this topic. So I'm happy to help you out to make sure you have time to create the content you need to grow your business. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. First things first, you need to recognize that this is important, that you need to prioritize creating content for your brand. Some people say they want to create content, but they don't actually believe they need to. This means treating content creation as a core part of your business strategy, not just an afterthought, not just some sort of tactic or little hustle you're doing on the Side to push the ball forward. At Webinar Ninja, my software company that I built over 10 years and recently sold, we realized that consistent content was a key part of our growth. Listen, when you're out of sight in the market's eye, you're out of mind. And because we knew this was so important, we made it a priority by dedicating specific times each week solely for creating content. These times in our calendar were non negotiable. They're like a meeting. So make sure you're prioritizing this if it's important. If it is important, make sure it's on the calendar. If it's not on your calendar, it doesn't actually happen. Right? It doesn't really make any sense in your mind if you just tell, hey, I need to create more content, and then you don't even actually put it in your calendar, meaning it's never going to happen. So whatever you want to create, even if you want to, just start small with writing one blog post a week or a newsletter once a week, then put it in the calendar block book three hours to outline and script your blog post. This is called time blocking and it's a very, very productive productivity hack. So for example, every Tuesday and every Thursday from 9 to 11, I'm going to work on this task, this content creation task. This is what I do for the podcast, by the way. I have different time blocks for planning the content, for scripting the content or outlining it, and then different time blocks for me recording the content. So step one is prioritizing it and proving it's a priority by putting it in your calendar and making the time for it. Okay, listen, you have to make time for it, otherwise you're going to fill this time with other busy work in your business. Understand? If you don't make time for it, it's just never going happen and it's never going to give you the positive impact you need. Listen, if you believe content is going to grow your business and get you more revenue, then you can make more money to hire more people so that you can be able to offload those tasks or keeping you busy. So get off the hamster wheel by investing in content. So that's step one, making a priority. Step two, don't do this alone. As much as possible, get the other parts of content creation off your plate. So what I like to do is I like to just focus on the content creation. So that's my secret sauce, that's my magic. This is what I love to do. This is what I Feel like I can add the most value in is the actual content, the actual creation of the ideas, and then the implementation, which in this case for this podcast is recording the podcast. If I'm creating a video, then shooting the actual video, you get the point. The content creation and the shooting of the video. Now that's not all you have to do to create content. You need to edit the content. You need to make sure if it's audio, that the sound is mastered and it sounds great. You need to render this content and put it in a suitable file. MP3 or MP4. If it's a video or whatever it might be, you need to upload this content somewhere. So if you have a YouTube channel, you'd upload it to YouTube. If you have a blog post, it needs to actually get put into your blog. It needs to be scheduled or published, it needs to be marketed, and so on and so forth. There's all these other admin tasks and non admin tasks like editing. This is a craft. If you could just focus on the creation and let somebody or some people take care of the rest, that is going to make it possible. Okay, this is going to make it so much easier for you because you can only just focus on one thing and everything else gets taken care of by the rest of the team. Now you might be saying, where do I find these people? Well, you can find an agency to do all this work for you and even schedule these posts and publish them on your social media if you want to promote them. I'm talking about any content. So like say you publish a blog post, creating a tweet or post on X and promoting that piece of content. So first thing you want to do is look at your current team. Is there anybody on your team right now that can actually help you with some of these tasks? So the best way to do is list all the tasks you have to get done in order for this content to get produced and published and be out in the world. Write it all down, you know, circle the stuff that you're going to do, which is the content creation part, and then you can go ahead and outsource or ask somebody on your team to do some of the things who can do this, who can be trained to do this. Maybe they don't know how to do it now, but that you can train them, you know, buy them a course on Udemy or something like that and get them to learn. We've done this on our team several times. We've hired freelancers when we didn't have somebody on our team to work on something as just a project to see if they're able to do it, whether it's a video editor or post production person. Or you can hire an agency that focuses on this. Just look up social media content agency and you will find an agency in your area that can help you out. They don't even have to be in your area. They could be anywhere in the world. But the point here is is that there's plenty of these people around. This way you can focus on what you do best while still maintaining a steady stream of content. Next Leverage Templates and Tools through the years of publishing this podcast, creating over 2,400 episodes, we have created systems templates tools that have significantly streamlined our content and creation process. Templates provide a structure that you can follow. This reduces the time of you spending thinking about a format and letting you focus on the content itself. For example, for a blog post you might have a standard template that includes an introduction with a nice hook that will get the reader engaged, some key points followed with some supplemental examples or stories, and maybe a nice wrap up conclusion. For social media, you can use graphic design tools like Canva, which is free to create visually appealing posts quickly with pre made templates that you can customize. So use systems templates tools to make your life easier. Repurpose Content now you gotta be careful with repurposing content. You don't want to be hacky about it, meaning there's some people that do this wrong and the quality suffers in the process. But as long as when you're repurposing you don't lose quality and you keep your standards high, you should be alright. So what's an example of repurposing content? Well, say for example, you created a one hour video or tutorial or you did a webinar for one hour. There's going to be some really great key moments. Inside that one hour you can probably find 10 to 12 one minute clips you can pull out. And again, an agency could do this for you or somebody on your team and use those one minute clips as promotional content for the actual video on your Instagram reels or for your YouTube shorts or whatever it might be. You already created the content, now you're just repurposing it for promotion on social media. Another amazing example that I absolutely love is Arnold Schwarzenegger's podcast. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a podcast called the Pump Club and Arnold at the start of this podcast in the trailer as well as the first few episodes, makes it clear that what you're listening to is not actually Arnold. It's an AI voice that was trained on Arnold's voice and it actually sounds exactly like him. You should check it out. And basically, they feed this AI the weekly newsletter. They say, this is our weekly newsletter. We publish it every single week. But if you don't want to read the newsletter, you can listen to it on the podcast using Arnold's AI voice. He's very upfront about it. He makes it clear it's AI, but repurposes his newsletter into a podcast that sounds incredible. So repurpose your content in a way that doesn't lower the quality, but in fact enhances your work and gets it out to more people.

[Omar Zenhom]

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[Co-host or Audience Member]

My last tip when it comes to making more time for content is making sure you don't overwhelm yourself. At the start, you want to take baby steps, because in the beginning you're not only doing the work, but you're also learning the systems, creating the templates, managing the team, figuring this out, getting comfortable. You're still new at this, so you might want to publish three blog posts a week or publish a daily video on YouTube. You want to go gangbusters. But at the start, nail the systems and nail the cadence and nail your consistency and reduce the load. So instead of doing a daily video on YouTube, do one video a week. Nail that. Make sure you have enough time for that. Don't overwhelm yourself. Maybe you need to start with one video a month. It doesn't matter as long as you start doing it consistently. Whatever you choose, once a month, once a week. And then once you know the system, you have the procedure. You have your team behind you helping you throughout the process. You've seen how you made it at a priority and you start to see a return on investment. Okay, let's up the ante a little bit. Two videos a month, three videos a month, once a week. But don't overwhelm yourself at the start because it might get you to stop doing it too early on without you having consistency and a chance to get used to it. That wraps up today's episode on making time for content creation in your business. Remember, the key is to prioritize your actual need to create content for your business, to schedule it, to leverage tools to outsource and use your team or hire some players like an agency to be able to help you out to repurpose some of the content so that way you're not, you know, overwhelming yourself and of course, pace yourself at the Star thanks so much for listening to the $100 MBA show. If you love this podcast, if you want to show your support, the best thing you could do is just follow the show. Click that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to get our next episodes automatically. That sends a signal to the algorithm to say the show's all right and allows us to get more listeners and get more reach. Thank you in advance for just clicking that follow button. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. One of the best things I learned in content creation is batching. Batching means doing the same thing all at the same time. So I don't plan and then record my podcast in the same session. I plan all my sessions in one shot. So I'm just doing planning. So I plan four or five episodes and then I outline all my episodes at one shot. Four or five episodes. This is a different session. And then I then record all those episodes in one sitting. Batching allows you to get more done because you're just focused on doing one type of task. You're not content switching and you're not fatiguing your brain by going from planning to implementation. This is incredibly powerful and huge when it comes to content creation. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in the next episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

[Omar Zenhom]

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