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Hey CEO teachers. Welcome back to the show. This week we're talking all about five questions to ask yourself to create content that connects. That was a mouthful. Five questions to ask yourself to create content that connects. I can't wait to dive deep into figuring out exactly what your audience needs. That way you connect with people in a more heart centered way. This is the month of May. In case you didn't hear our podcast promo, we're doing a Lessons to Lasting Income Summit. And so all of our podcast episodes are going to be about a better way to connect with your audience so you're not just stuck selling a few plant lesson plans here and there and then going into the summer feeling the summer slump. So stick around. You don't want to miss it this summer. Don't just recover, reinvent. If you're a teacher who's counting down your days to summer break, not just for rest, but for relief, then this one is for you. I know you don't need another professional development session. You just need a plan, a permission slip to build something that gives life back to you. That's why I created the Lessons to Lasting Income Summit. It's a free online event for teachers who are done waiting for a raise and ready to create consistent, reliable income on their own terms. We're bringing together the best teachers in the business, educators who built memberships, digital products, coaching programs, and brands that pay them every single month without sacrificing their sanity and their calling. This isn't about quitting the classroom tomorrow. It's about finally having options. It's about saying yes to baseball cleats without stressing out over your bank account. It's saying yes to summer camps, weekend getaways, and tithing with a cheerful heart. It's saying yes to a life that feels as good as you've helped others feel for years. The Summit is happening May 18th and it's totally free to attend. Come learn how real teachers are turning their lesson plans into lasting income and how you can do it too. Go to Casey morris.comsummit to get registered today. That's K A Y S E M O r r I s.com summit to register today. Because this summer, don't just recover, reinvent. Your lesson plans have changed lives. Now it's time to let your income do the same. For one of my favorite authors, Brene Brown, once said, the most powerful person in the room is the one who makes others feel seen. Can I get an amen? Today we're diving into something that can feel a little intimidating when you're just getting started in business creating content that actually connects with your ideal audience. I see this missed so many times, especially on social media. People are just sticking to what's trending and they're just trying to do something that someone else has already done with with totally forgetting. Like we're just humans, we're just trying to connect with people on a personal level. And let's be honest, you don't need more content. You don't need to create new stuff constantly just to make sales. You just need content that lands in the hearts and the minds of the people who need it most. It makes people say, how did she know what I was thinking? So whether you're writing a blog post, you're recording your own podcast, showing up on Instagram, or filming a YouTube video, this episode will help you stop the scroll to the people you want to stop the scroll to start the connection with them and then build a business that actually lasts and is not just some temporary trending audio type business business. So grab your notebook, open up your notes app because we are going to get very strategic today. I'm talking about the ABCs and the 1, 2, threes. You're going to want to take notes on this one. Here are five questions to ask yourself to start creating content that actually connects. Question number one is what is my audience Googling or the Modern Day Chat GPT at 11pm at night? This goes deeper than how do I engage students? They're asking more in depth questions and I want you to put yourself in your ideal customer's shoes. So if it's a fifth grade teacher, think about what a fifth grade teacher would actually ask Google for the next teaching day to get some sort of insight to help them be a better teacher. Something like how do I stop feeling like I'm failing every time my students talk over me? Because no one told me about classroom management. They never made me think that classroom management would make me question my calling. And I just want to feel confident as a teacher again. And I know that ChatGPT could kill this answer in the best way possible. But creating content that connects is having the ability to put yourself in your ideal customer's shoes, to pretend you are them and think like them inside of different AI machines. You can create bots that are specifically driven to your ideal customer and I want to highly encourage you to do that. Actually, inside of our summit, we're going to have some epic bonuses. One of them is going to be how to get inside of AI to make you a better teacher. And also A better teacher, business owner. So again, ask yourself, what is my audience googling or chatgpting at 11pm and pretend you are your ideal customer. Ask things like, how do I keep my kindergarteners from melting down during transitions? Because I feel like I'm doing everything right and it still feels like chaos. I'm exhausted and I just want my classroom to feel peaceful and for them and I to just live in harmony together. That's how you should be talking to ChatGPT, Google, maybe not so much just ask it a specific question. But if you want to feel like you have a friend that can help you, ChatGPT is definitely the way to go. Also, you could ask something like, how do I support teachers without feeling like I'm constantly putting out fires? You know, behind the scenes, I know teachers are managing overwhelmed staff. They're worried about district expectations and their own desire to make a real difference. So I want to help speak to that to quiet the pressure. So using these real pain points to create things like videos, reels, blogs, or podcast episodes that feel like they answer a question that they didn't even know they needed to ask, you created the question, you heard their problems, and then you found out a way to solve it. So use that to create content that connects on social media by asking that question at the start of a social media post or as the title of your podcast or your blog or your YouTube video. And then lay out the action steps that they need to take in order to feel a little bit safer. All right, question number two. Ask yourself, where was I one year ago? And what do I wish that someone had told me? This is pure gold. When you're creating content that actually connects, I want you to go back to you just a few steps behind where you are now. And here's the thing with doing that. Whenever you go back to where you were before, you put yourself back into your audience's shoes. You remember the hard times when things were uncomfortable, and it allows you to kind of walk there beside them hand in hand. The further I get away from the classroom, the more I fear that I don't have that ability anymore. And I have to go back to those beginning days. I have to sit in my car when I was crying tears in Oscilla, Georgia, first grade teacher, every single day when I was riding those back roads like my book was chatting about earlier this month. And I have to think about drinking the Diet Coke and the Slim fast. And I have to get in that mindset. I don't. I don't like to go back there. But asking myself, where was I when I was struggling the most, when I was at my lowest point as a teacher? And envisioning that girl allows me to connect with my people because I'm able to kind of see it from their perspective a little bit better. You know, think about, on those days, what was I Googling? Or on those days, what was I stuck on? What would have made me feel seen? So, example, something for content like an idea. Could be, one year ago, I didn't even know what a membership was. Now it's how I pay for summer camp and dance classes without stress. Or it could be something like, one year ago, I had no idea that I was going to be in the situation that I was in in my personal life. And now I've gotten to X, Y, and Z because that, that is relatable, even if it's not selling a product, that's creating a content that connects. And connection is how you eventually psychologically make a sale for someone because they have to know, like and trust you. And I hate to break it to you, but people don't know like and trust influencer these days because they're forgetting this magic component of making sure their content connects. So question number three on questions to ask yourself to create content that connects is, am I writing a real person or am I writing in my teacher voice or, like, my textbook voice? And I see this all the time with our niche. And it's okay, because you're a teacher. You're supposed to be professional, right? You got to dot your eyes and cross your T's. This one's simple. Just drop the academic tone. You're. You're, you are a teacher, but on social media, you're just you. You're just. I'm just Casey on social media. So talk like you would in your normal everyday voice. As a former English teacher, I understand that I do not write my Instagram captions grammatically correct, but I talk like I write, and those are the passages or the books or the captions that people actually have something to say about. If I try to chat GPT it or try to be like perfect teacher, they don't land like I want them to use contractions. That's fine. Use humor. Use honesty. Use cuss words if you want to. You don't need to prove that you're smart. We know you're smart. Okay? You don't need to prove that you understand. We know you're there. We get it. Example. So don't say effective engagement strategies for educators include, instead, try this. Here's how I got 25 seventh graders to stop throwing pencils and actually pay attention. Same message, different effect. Connection is greater than perfection every single time. All right, question number four on questions you can ask yourself when creating content that connects is, am I creating this for them, or am I creating this at them? This one is about heart posture. If your content is, ooh, look what I did, that's performative. If it's, here's how you can do this too, that is transformational. And I was in the loop of performative posts there for a while. Like, I needed the validation and the pat on the back. And I really wanted to capture people's attention based off of accolades, thinking that that would entice them to want more for their lives, when in reality, it was just performative and they didn't do well because you're literally the main character of your own story, and that's it. And being able to connect with people where they are is way more powerful than showing them who you are. Now, sometimes it's needed, sometimes for validity's sake. When people are wondering if you're a real human that did real things, that's fine. You can post things like that. But when you're trying to do it for business purposes, remember, it's all about the transformation. I want you to teach. That's what you're good at. I want you to share, encourage, and always speak with your people, not at them. So here's a tip. Use phrases like you might feel, or I've been there before, or here's what's helped me to bring them along with you on the journey. And last but not least, question number five on five questions to ask yourself to create content that connects is what's the bigger story behind this post? Strategy is everything. I love when our strategy pays off tenfold. Oh, it makes me like, I get so nerdy about it. We have a long Runway between when we launch programs or summits, we normally wait a couple months, and so we're preparing on the back end, the story. We know what the story is, and we are thinking about that story in every post, every email, every podcast. It should all point to something deeper. It's little breadcrumbs or a yellow brick road that leads to the great and powerful Oz. Is this post part of a story? If not, why are we posting it? Is this post part of a bigger plan? Where there's an end goal, there's somewhere that you're going, a direction that you're trying to get people to believe in or understand? Does it share value for your brand? Where you're noted in high favor inside of a story, where you're taking people along on a journey? Because remember, stories sell. If you haven't already read the book, I've Talked about it 1000 times on this show by Donald Miller called Building a Story Brand. I highly encourage it. It basically is like personalities. You know, they say there's like nine personality types of all people in the world and that you can figure out like what you're you best connect with. Think about that. With stories, there's specific number of ways that you can tell stories and every single movie of all time follows the pattern of those specific ways. And so the book Building a Story Brand is going to show you how you can take your story, whatever version of that it is, and people follow what's familiar. And so just remember that when your content is layered with purpose, it feels familiar. People will feel it too, and they'll keep coming back for more. So does it lead them to a bigger program? A bigger, bigger story? A lead magnet? A course? A mission? Think about that before you post what you have to offer. So there you have it. Five questions to help you create content that doesn't just get likes, but builds trust, connection and community. Because your voice truly matters. Your story matters. And when you show up with intention, your content becomes a lot more than just content. It becomes impact. If this episode helped you today, share it with a friend, drop a review or tag me Acey Morris on Instagram with your biggest takeaway. And don't forget, our Lessons to Lasting Income Summit is happening May 18th from 9:00am Eastern Standard Time to 4:00pm we have 11amazing speakers who are going to be sharing with you about what their lives look like now that they own a teacher membership. It's going to be a beautiful day of events. I would love to have you join us. Casey morris.comsummit if you have plans that day, don't worry, go ahead and register. We'll show you how you can get access to these videos if you cannot attend live on the thank you page after you register. If you want to build more income that doesn't disappear with a school year, this summit is definitely your permission slip to do that. Register for free@casey morris.com summit as always, remember your best is yet to come and I'll see you right back here next Wednesday.