“Losers have goals. Winners have systems.”
-Scott Adams, Creator of Dilbert
What if every piece of content you created had a positive ROI?
Maybe you spend countless hours creating a piece of content you think is amazing.
Scratch that. You know it’s amazing…
You put all this time and energy into creating a great piece of content. And what comes next?
Crickets.
You get very little traction (and sometimes none at all).
I know this struggle all too well.
And not only do I personally struggle with this… I’ve observed this pattern at play in countless other entrepreneurs.
So I’m going to share how you can gain a high ROI on your content EVEN IF you’re not getting the immediate results you want.
Winners Have Systems
Scott Adams likes to say that “losers have goals” and “winners have systems.”
This is a principle that I’ve held onto for many years.
The essence of this quote is asking the following question:
How can I pursue a goal so that EVEN IF I “fail” miserably… I still develop my skills, abilities and/or relationships through the process?
In regards to content creation… how can I win and grow after every piece of content?
The top complaints I hear about content creation is how it’s a long-term approach to business success. It’s not instantly gratifying.
Though this may be true for your ultimate business objectives (revenue, profit, etc.) you can still receive high ROI after every piece of content you create.
It’s highly unlikely to produce one or two pieces of content and have success emerge. Content creation is a process.
Are there exceptions to the rule? Of course. Even a broken clock is correct twice a day… but that doesn’t mean I should allow it to inform me of the time and put it on my wall.
Success is more likely to emerge after you’ve developed a catalog of quality content.
Different forms of ROI can be achieved in your content. And these can transform your business over-time.
And the quickest and most efficient way to achieve this is by having a streamlined process.
By having a content creation engine in place, we can streamline our success and use every piece of content as an opportunity for high ROI.
Let’s Talk ROI
To get a high ROI on every single piece of content… we need to first be clear on what this ROI is.
As an entrepreneur, I know that most things don’t work out exactly as planned. So by focusing only on short-term financial metrics… I could end up wasting countless hours and energy on something that may NEVER work out.
Instead, I’d rather invest in experiences that’ll give me large amounts of learning and skills. These are resources that I can use for future successful endeavors.
This doesn’t mean I don’t focus on achieving these short term goals. I do.
But I have a higher purpose outside of “get more money.”
And by focusing on experiences, I’m setting myself up for future success (even if my short-term goals don’t work out 100% as planned).
The world is evolving and changing. And innovation is accelerating at an unfathomable rate.
And if we’re not learning from every single experience we have… then we’re wasting our time.
We’d be wasting our time because we’d be unprepared for future opportunities.
These current experiences will prepare you for these future opportunities in ways you couldn’t have even imagined.
For instance, almost a year ago I decided to learn professional coaching & teaching. And I created goals that forced me to learn these skill-sets.
And they’ve paid off in unpredictable ways.
For example: recently I’d been asked to join the instructional team that teaches digital marketing to UC Berkeley students.
And if I hadn’t learned how to professional coach or teach, then I wouldn’t have been prepared for that opportunity.
Pursue a high return on experience.
It’ll pay off in unpredictable ways.
3 Important Facets Of A Content Creation Engine That’ll Give You Massive ROI
They’re a few ideas I’d like to share today that’ll completely transform your relationship with your content.
Here are 3 important facets of a content creation engine:
1. Having A “Higher-Purpose” Keeps You On Course
It’s important to understand that you have business “goals” and a higher “purpose” for why you create content.
For instance, your goals could be to generate more leads and revenue. Your purpose could be to create a positive impact for your audience (I recommend customizing your purpose so it resonates with you).
Your goals are “finite” because they have a measurable outcome. They can end or be accomplished.
Your purpose could be considered “infinite” in the sense that it’s a continuing process.
And ideally, each of these finite goals fulfills this “infinite” process.
For example, growing your business online (leads and revenue) could fulfill the higher purpose of making a positive impact.
So why is this distinction important?
Goals focus on outcome-orientation. Purpose focuses on process-orientation.
If you want to create an effective content creation process, you’ll need a higher purpose for it.
Not every piece of content is going to give you thousands of likes & comments. If you don’t have a higher purpose for creating your content, then those posts will discourage you.
Discouragement will lead to less action. Less growth. Less results. And over-time… a failing business.
It’s a deadly downward spiral.
However, if you’re clear on your higher purpose, you can tap into a process-oriented mindset. So even on your “off” days, you still win.
Every action fulfills this higher purpose. And because you’re taking tons of action, you gain a massive Return On Experience.
2. You Learn And Develop Faster When You Teach
In one of my favorite articles written by Michael Simmons, he shares a powerful model that he coined the “explanation effect.”
The main idea is that we learn, develop, and accelerate our growth when we teach others.
Teaching reveals gaps in your own knowledge and gives you feedback on where to improve. This creates a cumulative effect over time.
You’ll have a much greater learning potential compared to someone who isn’t teaching.
And content creation is a form of teaching!
So every piece of content you create, you have an opportunity to get better. Learn. Develop. And accelerate your growth.
And when you focus on getting better, you turn into the type of person who naturally attracts leads and clients.
I’m not proposing you just passively create content and hope for people to find you. However, having a content creation engine that focuses on getting better will turn you into a person who can sustain success.
You’ll have the skills and abilities needed to maintain success… instead of suffering from the “one-hit wonder” phenomenon.
3. Discovering A Profitable Niche
Chris Rock is very experimental with how he develops his jokes.
When he writes a joke, he DOES NOT think to himself… “This is a good one, I’ll use this for my next big performance.”
Instead, he begins by going to smaller venues and experiments with his material. Then he observes the audiences’ feedback.
Which jokes do they like? Which ones do they not like?
Once he has enough feedback, he consolidates the BEST jokes and uses them for his next big performance.
A streamlined content creation process works the same way for discovering niches.
Discovering your niche can be a big challenge.
It takes time to become clear on your audiences’ specific needs and develop solutions to overcome them.
But research alone won’t give you these insights. You receive “diminishing returns” after a certain point of researching.
The only way to TRULY figure out what your audience wants and needs is by their direct feedback (similar to Chris Rock’s approach)
And content creation can be a powerful vehicle for doing this.
Over time, it’ll show you what your audience cares about.
And then you can consolidate your best content into premium offers that’ll serve your audience at a higher level.
This could literally be the catalyst for a profitable business, products, and services.
The more refined your content process, the more likely you’ll find these gems over-time.
How To Begin Developing A Content Creation System
There are a few things you can do to start building this content creation engine:
- Develop a “higher purpose” for creating your content. Every time you create and share content, you fulfill this purpose. That’ll get you into a process-oriented mindset.
- How can you start creating content so that EVEN IF it doesn’t achieve your “desired results”… you still developed your skills, abilities, and relationships?
- In what ways can you start running tiny experiments with your content? Use Chris Rock as inspiration.
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