In Part 1 of this 5-Part Consistent Content Series, I’m sharing my personal story with content creation – including all the ups and downs. I talk about what it was like to deeply want to show up online but feel completely paralysed by my fear of putting myself out there. And how I overcame the perfectionism that was making me hide, procrastinate and endlessly polish my content.
This episode also introduces the idea of Safe Visibility. Because your problem isn’t lack of motivation or willpower or not having the right content calendar or the right niche. The problem is that you haven’t learned how to feel safe being visible as the truest version of you – so that’s what I’m here to teach.
If you’ve ever told yourself “I know what to do when it comes to content creation but I’m just not doing it” then this episode is for you.
In this episode, I share:
- The invisible pressure perfectionists feel when creating content
- Why traditional marketing advice made things harder, not easier
- How I finally started creating content consistently (without forcing it)
- What safe visibility means – and why it matters so much
- How this series will guide you toward content that feels natural, aligned and self-expressed
The Consistent Content Series will teach you how to create consistent content without burning out. Then join us inside Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (aka PGSD) to do this work with structure, support and a like-minded community. Doors open on 18 July for one week only. To find out more about the program and sign up for the waitlist, visit samlaurabrown.com/pgsd.
Listen To The Episode
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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
Hi and welcome to another episode of The Perfectionism Project. A podcast full of perfectionism advice for entrepreneurs. My name is Sam Laura Brown, I help entrepreneurs release their perfectionism handbrake, so they can get out of their own way and build a fulfilling and profitable business. I’m the founder of the Perfectionists Getting Shit Done group coaching program, which is otherwise known as PGSD. And for even more perfectionism advice to help you with your business, you can follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject.
Sam Laura Brown (Custom Introduction)
Welcome to part one of the consistent content series. So I’m just going to do a quick intro here so that we can dive right into the episode. But this is a five part series for perfectionist entrepreneurs who want to show up consistently, who want to be posting consistent content to build their business, but you keep getting stuck. If that’s you. This series is for you, and it’s going to be such a relief, because there is nothing wrong with you. And I’m going to share all of my struggles that I’ve had with content creation, how I overcame those struggles, and the exact process that you can use, that can be fit to you uniquely, without you having to guess and go through all the trial and error that I did, but you’ll actually be able to create consistent content. Because what we are doing with this series, and I’m going to talk about that in part one, what we are doing is, instead of having you trying to have the perfect hook and to try and do everything to get it right, what we are doing is shifting the focus. We are shifting it from posting consistently as a goal to safe visibility, safe self expression, creating content that feels like you, that feels like coming home, and then you can’t help but be consistent.
You can’t help but stick with it, even if there is that inevitable period where you are going to have low engagement, where you’re going to feel like you’re talking to a brick wall when you are creating spark content, which we’re going to talk about in part two, when you are doing that, you are able to not only build a successful business, but feel successful in the process of doing it. So whether you are overthinking every post, it takes you forever to write it. If you’re ghosting and you stay consistent for a few days, and then you completely abandon it, and then try to motivate yourself to get posting again, or you’re constantly struck trying to experiment with like, what’s the right kind of content, or who is the right audience, or what’s the right niche, or what’s a perfect system I can have so that I can publish this like, what a different categories, like, if you’re stuck in all of that, if you’ve been stuck on the content treadmill, this is going to be such a relief, such a gift. It is me teaching content creation like I’ve never heard anyone else teach it, and that’s because I had a very unique experience as a content creator with so much fear of visibility, crippling levels putting myself out there. I was so terrified of doing that, so I had to figure out this consistency problem I had.
It wasn’t actually that I had a safety problem. I didn’t feel safe being visible, putting myself out there, being seen. So I had to solve for that. And I solved for that through creating content. I’m going to teach you in this series exactly how to do that so that you can show up consistently in the way you love. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, and it can be incredibly successful for your business at this point, my main platform is my podcast that you’re listening to right now. I have over 3 million downloads. I’ve made over $2 million from this podcast, and I’ve done it doing exactly what I’m teaching you how to do in this series. You don’t have to be a podcaster. You definitely don’t have to have a coaching business. I’m just saying that because this is an example of what I teach, and it’s an example, as are my clients proof. It’s proof that you can create content that feels like you you can do it your way and have it be insanely successful.
So in today’s episode, we are talking about, or I’m sharing about my story with content creation, what that has looked like over the years, the troubles and mistakes and issues that perfectionists have when it comes to creating content. Why that perfectionism handbrake comes on? How to release that handbrake and this series isn’t just theoretical. Inside perfectionist getting shit done. We are going to be doing this work together through the creative cocoon that we’re going to have in PGSD, which is a three month process to rebuild your self trust, to create content with ease and finally, be consistent without burning out. So the doors to pgsc are opening on the 18th of July, right after this series is complete for one week only. So I want to invite you inside samlaurabrown.com/pgsd is where to go to find out more and join the wait list so you can be ready to join us as soon as doors open. So let’s dive into part one of the consistent content series.
Sam Laura Brown
So this podcast series, this is part one of it. This podcast series is something that has been more than a decade in the making, and I feel like what I’m going to be sharing with you in this series, and then what we’re going to work deeper on inside perfectionist getting shit done. This is not my life’s work as such, but my business’s work, my my thing that I really struggled with the most and have overcome and I now get to share with you. So I couldn’t be more grateful to be able to share this series with you and to be able to invite you into PGSD to do the work that I’m going to be talking about in this series. So five parts, one part released every other day, and then on the 18th of July, we will be opening pgse For one week only, and then doing some incredible, incredible work together on this topic. And I’ve been telling our PGSDers about it. They are so excited. And of course, they get to be a part of it. It’s a lifetime access program, so they get to all do this as well, and you can do this too with us.
So what I want to share in this first episode is a bit about my story around content creation and consistent content in particular. That’s what this series is about. I want to share about where perfectionists have a hard time, where I’ve had a hard time with content creation. Why that is especially when you’re smart. You know what to do. You know what it could look like to be showing up consistently, but you can’t get yourself to either start doing it. You keep getting ready to get ready, researching or deciding on a name for your podcast or what kind of videos to do for your YouTube account. You just can’t get yourself to get started, or maybe you have started and you can’t get yourself to create. You keep putting off the actual creation phase of the content. Or you can get yourself to create, but editing is where you get stuck. You really struggle to say something is complete, and then publishing, getting it out into the world, in front of others, even if it is complete, and it was said, Okay, this is ready to go, you can’t get yourself to push publish, to hit that button, or even if you have a VA, you can’t get them to do it.
You just feel like it’s not ready to be seen by the world. And I just have so much to share, so much wisdom on this topic, and what I’m going to be sharing isn’t any of the typical stuff that you hear on these topics. That’s why I’m so excited to be sharing with you, and so grateful to be able to do so, because I really had to figure out all the stuff that I’m going to be sharing across this series at inside PGSD, I really had to figure it out the hard way and the stuff that I’m sharing. If I had known it in the beginning of my journey, it would have saved me a lot of shame and a lot of time just spent spinning my wheels, feeling frustrated at myself, feeling like, why couldn’t I just get myself to do something that seems easy enough to do so much drama around it? I’ll be talking as well about recent drama I’ve had around content creation, but it was actually only very recently that. And I mean, like the last few days recently, I was like, oh shit, I actually am someone with a lot to share on this topic because of my perfectionist brain being like, well, you don’t show up perfectly here or here.
So you can actually teach this topic like, this is a topic that, because what I have learned has come from my own experiences, my own struggles, and I’ve coached so many PGSDers on this topic, and yet I hadn’t let myself see that I actually know enough to be able to say this is something that I teach. This is something that I am an expert in, because it definitely didn’t start that way whatsoever. So I’m really excited to be doing this series, to be sharing this with you, and to just be relieving a lot of shame you might have had or you might carry today around this topic, if you have been if you just know that if you were able to show up consistently, your business would be more successful, but then you can’t show up consistently if you’re in that loop, this series is for you, and as I mentioned, it’s not going to be like anything you really hear on this topic. It’s not going to be this like pressure rule book. Here’s what you should be doing. You should have a hook. You should do this. So the algorithm likes it, like all of that kind of stuff. This is really about how to create content in a way that feels like coming home to yourself, in a way that has it feeling like you don’t you feel so much like yourself as you’re doing it that you can’t help but be consistent. You can’t help but want to share it, and also I’ll be talking about throughout this series.
That doesn’t mean that you might not have some dread at the same time or some resistance to doing it. I still in with this very podcast series. I still have that feeling of dread or resistance, even though this is something I absolutely adore doing, and I feel so much like myself and so seen by myself when I record my podcast, but my brain still, to some level, is like, that’s risky. Let’s just do back end stuff in the business and, like, update this system, and there’s that. And also what I want to help you do is what I’ve been able to do, which is to have a business that is successful. So it’s not that, like you do this, and this is a nice little hobby, but like, if you actually wanted to have content that built a business, then of course, you need to think about the hook. Of course you need to say the right thing, and think about your audience and what do they want, and what’s your niche, and, like all of that. But like, I have taken a very different approach, and it has been wildly successful for me.
And it is built on self trust. It is built on being willing to take that approach without it, needing to get instant engagement and like, the way that I have done things it wasn’t. I definitely am not this person, and I feel like this is for this reason I was I this is what I’m here to teach. And if I had had, okay, I made a YouTube video, and then I got, you know, 10,000 views, and then, you know, the rest is history. That is not my story. My story is really about crippling fear, putting myself out there, showing up, keeping it a secret from friends and family for a year, some friends and family for much longer than that. I was so embarrassed by myself to think I could, even when I started back in 2013 that I could even have anything to share with the world. It just felt so embarrassing, so like I felt ashamed that I even thought I could do that and show up in that way and be that kind of person. I was so scared of what my friends would think, and I have a lot of supportive people around me in my life. I do now. I did then, but I was just so scared of the laughter because I was laughing at myself.
I was so, so scared of anyone stumbling across my blog. That’s how this all started. A blog called Smart20s, about how to make the most of your 20s. I wasn’t even sharing any kind of actual opinion on anything. I was just sharing like, Hey, I think this blog post is cool, or I think this YouTube video was interesting, and I didn’t share it with anyone I knew personally. So I was just sharing it like into the internet. I had single digit page views. I when people were like, you know, just tell your friends and family about, you know, what you’re doing. Post it on your personal Instagram page. Like, Instagram, Facebook, like, Oh my God, no way, no way. I just cannot imagine anything worse than having to share this with people who actually know me, like so so many people who teach on this topic, they have different things to teach. That thing to teach isn’t here’s how to overcome this insane fear of putting yourself out there and showing up. And so when I’ve learned about content from people who never had that fear, I didn’t get the lessons I needed to get on how to actually create safety for myself, to show up, to put myself out there, to tell people that I loved about it, and to risk them not loving me anymore, is essentially what it was about I was thinking like, not consciously, but at least subconsciously, like, if I share this, they won’t love me anymore, because this is so embarrassing that I think I can do this.
Now, I know so many people who, even though they are doing like, can do such a great job with content if they apply themselves to it, they don’t apply themselves to it because of this fear of, like, becoming someone different to everyone in your life knows you as and to who you’ve known yourself as. And so you might feel this pull to create content, this pull to be a leader and be someone who shares things, even if, like me, you had this like, insane level of self doubt. And like, I don’t know if I could actually do that and if it would work, and if it would be so embarrassing. And at the same time, you just feel a lot of belief about it too. Like, I always felt this contradiction between, like, I have so much self doubt and so much self belief. And like, how do I reconcile that? And really the self doubt. Was just trying to keep me safe because I knew that I could do something like what I’m doing today. I knew that I could be able to lead on topics, and I didn’t know how or what that would look like. I didn’t even know at that time that coaching was a thing, but I just had this feeling once I had been introduced to the world of content through podcasts.
That was how I got into everything. I started listening to psychology podcasts on the drive to my job, and then I listened to all of that that I could find, and like TED Talks and things like that. And then it suggested business podcast. I had no desire to start a business, but then I was listening to people who had started them. I was like, Huh. They were sharing their fears and doubts and like, real things. I was like, Oh, maybe I could do that. Maybe I could have a blog. A lot of them had a blog. I started a blog. I had a few different attempts. Actually. I was like, I’ll do a baking blog, because I really liked doing baking. But I did one post. I was like, I do not care to talk about this topic. I really have no interest in, like, making a recipe or any of that. And I was going to do one on at university. So I have a law degree and a finance degree, a Diploma of French as well. So I was going to do a blog that was specifically for people at my university on a stats subject that was quite hard, but I like had figured out how to think about it in a way that meant I did really well.
So I was going to do a blog literally just about that, and what I also did. So just before that time was that I my brother, he suggested a book to me called the Go Giver, and I can’t remember the author’s name at the time I’m recording this. I didn’t look it up, but I read that book, and I was like, Oh my God. Like, it introduced me to the world of personal development. And then I was like, this is a thing. Like, this is a whole thing. And growing up, I always loved, like, watching Oprah and stuff like that, but I didn’t realize the personal development world was an actual thing. So that opened my eyes, like, maybe I could do a blog around things about that, and also this question for me, of like, I was 22 at the time I started this blog that I was like, Where are the people who are just like me, who they’re not like, oh my god, I’m so broke. Why am I where? And they’re like, look at my perfect life. But the people who are like, I’m really trying to figure this out, and I’m also really struggling to figure this out, and, like, navigating that.
So that’s what I wanted to talk about. I had no opinions or advice or anything like that on it, but I just felt this pull to do it. And so after about six months of listening to podcasts, I and, like, building up my belief I would listen, I remember it so clearly, like at the different rental properties that I lived in, like I would be listening non stop. It just filled me with so much belief to listen to other people, because I didn’t know anyone in my life who had a blog, let alone like I wasn’t telling anyone I was listening to personal development podcasts or business podcasts or like all of that. So I didn’t even know if there was someone around me like that. I definitely didn’t invite it in. I was too, too scared to do that and like, even reveal that I liked personal development. Did that mean there was something wrong with me that I liked that topic? Like, there was also that. So anyway, it filled with enough belief to get started. I came up with the name, based on Pat Flynn, who has Smart Passive Income, which was one of the podcasts I listened to. He is amazing.
I was like, smart 20s. I’ll make it smart 20s. So I had the name, and then I wrote one post and published it and completely ghosted it for three months. I stopped listening to podcasts. I just felt so embarrassed that I had even posted anything. And after that, it was a journey, a massive journey of trying to figure out how to feel safe, publishing how to feel safe, letting myself be seen, because I was doing something that felt so like me, even though I’d never really explored personal development. As I said, I didn’t know that coaching was a thing at that point. I didn’t get introduced to it until a few years later, when I was listening to a podcast and Brooke Castillo was on it, I was like, oh my god, this is, this is a thing like, you can actually coach people, and that’s it. I just felt like, Oh my God, that’s me. That’s what I naturally do, and that can be a career like that. Was amazing to have that epiphany. But when I really started my blog and started, like getting trying to get myself out there and be able to post something, even if it was just sharing someone else’s YouTube video or someone else’s blog post and things like that, I just felt so embarrassed that, like, when people would say things like, as in, people online, again, I wasn’t talking to anyone in my real life about this, so I was listening just to people online, when people talk about, like, just feel, feel the fear and do it anyway. Stop caring what people think.
Or I would just hear all these success stories from people who, as I said, were like, oh, you know. The first person who read my blog, or, like, whatever was like my mom or my dad or my friend, or I was like, No, oh my god, I cannot tell anyone about this. This is so embarrassing. And so I really had to go through it to figure out, Okay, what’s going on. And when I started this as well, I didn’t even know I was a perfectionist. I didn’t know that perfectionism was something that, like was part of my mindset, that that perfectionist, those tendencies, the all or nothing, thinking, the burning myself out, the like people pleasing, the fear of judgment, which is a lot of what we’re talking about here, the procrastination, like I had a lot of that come up during university and things like that, but it never caused really big problems for me until I started trying to show up in the world as myself and doing something that felt really true to me. It felt much easier to be bad at university, even though I definitely didn’t want to as someone who self identifies then and now, as someone who’s intelligent, I definitely didn’t want to do bad at that. But it didn’t feel like me to be doing law or me to be doing finance. I was interested in those things. I chose to study those topics.
I enjoyed even learning about those things. But it wasn’t until I started my blog and started learning about personal development, I was like, This feels like me. And the perfectionism in Frank came on in such an intense way that I then had to go about okay, like, what is this? Because I thought it was a motivation issue. Like, and I used to do blog posts about, like, how do I just get myself to stay motivated? Because I couldn’t post consistently to my blog. So what happened was, when I first did that post, and then I ghosted for three months and just was like, oh my god, that was so embarrassing that even tried, let’s try and, like, keep that out of my mind. Then after that, I was like, Okay, what I need to do, and I’ll be talking in the future episodes about, like, a practical approach and, like, bringing it all together. But I just want to share my story with you so you know the background, you know, like, you’re not the only one that I was like, Okay, I’m just gonna post every day and post something. Doesn’t matter what doesn’t matter if it’s shit, I just need to literally post something, because I can tell me not posting anything, because as well, like, the more time passed without me posting, the more pressure there was for the next thing I posted to be really good.
And again, that pulls on that perfectionism handbrake, and I was just like, finding it even harder to figure out what to say and to actually say, even though, again, literally no one in my life knew about this blog. I was working out when I was meant to be otherwise studying and also I hadn’t really, like promoted it online, like I wasn’t. There were no ads to it, like there was nothing, like there was no one reading it. But even then, even in having no one read it, and especially no one I knew reading it, it felt so embarrassing still to be even doing it, so like there was so many layers of this that I had to overcome. So I was like, Okay, I’m gonna post something every single day for the month of January. This would have been January 2014 and I just need to, like, get into this rhythm of, like, letting myself put so I started over time to, like, figure out, okay, if I post more often, and I give myself, like, here’s when I’m going to post, and I make myself support myself, but really, then there was, like, a lot of force, like, I make myself post that every day, then that feels easier than trying to do, like, one good post per week.
It feels easier to actually let myself do seven bad posts in a week, and to not have all this time and space, because if I had to do seven in a week, or like, one every single day, I didn’t have the time and space. I was full time studying. I was also working, also had friends and family. I was dating Steve, then we’re now married, but we were dating then, like, I had a full life outside of this as well, and so I didn’t have all this time. Like, I just was like, Okay, I just have to put something together and put it out there into the world and just like, get the ball rolling. And I found that really helpful. But then after that was done, that month, then I just went back into, okay, well, now I need to, like, now that I’ve done that, now I need to really figure out, like, a good thing to talk about, and things like that. And I just found that what I was doing was like, I’d post, and it would take me so long, so long to put together a post. I would publish it. I would edit it after it was published, and then I would go into, like China, basically like with each post that I had on my blog, trying to have it be either if it was a certain topic, this like perfect summation of that. But like, once I started actually being like, maybe I could actually share things, because I started learning a lot, maybe I could share things of like, here’s what I’m noticing, like, putting together my thoughts.
So that’s what I was doing in 2014 as I was figuring that out and, like, finding my voice. And I am so grateful now to have had a period with no one watching, because that is really when I figured out a lot of my voice over like those three, first three years, particularly the first two years, 2014 and 2015 was when I really started learning, okay, if I talk in first person, which you’ll notice I’m doing right now, I still do this. If I talk in first person, it’s way easier. Saying here’s what I did, is it helpful for you, hopefully, versus here’s what you should do. Anytime I tried to say, like, here’s what you should do. My perfectionism handbrake came up, because my brain was like, well, a it’s really easy for people to criticize that kind of content. If I’m talking about my own personal experience, like, that’s my experience, they can’t say, well, that’s not true. I mean, they could, but they’re less likely to. But if I’m saying, well, you should do this when you’re creating content, or you should do this, I wasn’t talking about creating content then.
I was talking about, like, just personal life, personal development, and just like, different ideas about, like how to stay motivated and how to create a habit and things like that, that every time I tried to approach it from this, like, You should do this kind of angle. Or, like, here’s an exhaustive my view on like, say, if it was habits, like, here’s everything you need to know about it. When I tried to create like that, oh my god, handbrake came on massively. But it was like, here are three things that have helped me create habits that have been good, that was so much easier to create. So I really had to figure out over the years. And it did take me years when people, I have heard so many people, be like, you know, I was creating content for five whole months before I had, like, my first 10 km like, Oh, my God. That is not, that is not my story. It took me three years to be able to make my first dollar, and not because I wasn’t capable of doing that. Physically, emotionally, I wasn’t capable yet until 2016 in September, when it was three years after I’d started, and I was working so hard on this blog all around like my job, because I then graduated in 2015 and so I’d work on it. I was working as an accountant as well, so I’d work on it on the train. I’d take my laptop on the train and be like, writing a blog post, like I was working so hard to get my blog off the ground.
I remember a year before, I think it was about a year before I graduated, I was like, I really want to be able to have this blog full time support me so that when I graduate, because I know I don’t really want to be a lawyer, in case you can’t tell, I don’t really like arguing with people and like all of that kind of thing. I just didn’t want to have that profession, even though I did find it very interesting, I was like, Okay, I’ll go down the finance route, because I find that really interesting and like more suited to me than law. But I was like, ultimately, I know what I want to do, even though to like, I would say to people, I have no idea what I want to do. I did know. I was just keeping the knowledge from myself that I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to have a blog that supported me full time. I wanted to be able to talk about personal development as a thing that I did, as a job, as something that would support me financially. But I was like, I want to be have a full time income from that by the time I graduate in mid 2015 I had not made a cent by that point because of the perfectionism, because I was trying so hard to apply advice that didn’t work for my perfectionist brain when it came to perfectionism, or just didn’t even acknowledge the fact about how real my fear of visibility and my fear of putting myself out there, which is perfectionism.
None of the advice acknowledged. Like, here’s what to do when you’re terrified of telling people in your life about your blog like it was just, like, just, like, just, of course, post it to your personal Facebook page. Like, again, no way I’m doing that. I remember the day. I literally remember it so clearly the day that I had my sorry. I had my Instagram account. I definitely didn’t tell any of my friends about it. I had my Instagram account, and I saw one of my friends from primary school who I wasn’t even friends with anymore. She liked one of my posts, so basically it was like my secret had gotten out, and I felt so panicked, like I was being like I just felt in my body so panicked that someone I knew could see what I was doing with my business like that. It was now not just this, like private thing, that over that time period, I had developed the confidence to comment on other people’s blog posts and be like, hey, here are my thoughts on this. Come check out my blog so there were more and more people starting to follow my blog. Definitely not avalent. Of people, but it was more than just me reading the blog and to have it actually, like, go into it being my personal life, and someone from my personal life, even though it was someone I wasn’t in contact with anymore, not for any bad reason.
We just like, weren’t in touch anymore. I was like, oh my god, like this. I I just like, I wasn’t ready. And also I’m glad that happened in hindsight, because it really then helped me to be like, Oh, okay, like this thing I’m feeling so much, which is people not wanting to hang out with me anymore, not loving me anymore. That didn’t actually happen. It was really great just to get some proof of that. But I was just so scared of that I have this just Yeah. So a lot of, a lot of what I’m going to be sharing is, and you might relate to this, but not be in the thick of this anymore, but I just want to share like, this is the backstory of content creation for me. And so it took me until 2016 to actually be able to not just be sharing things, but to have something for sale, which for me was an online course that I made about habits that I had figured out how to have a consistent gym habit and work out and a consistent meditation habit. And so it’s just so funny to me that my brain, until so recently, has been like consistency, like consistent content. You couldn’t actually teach that when, literally, I’ve actually been teaching that consistency since 2016 but anyway, I love how our perfectionist brains just like, ignore what’s actually true.
But I had that course, and then I was basically like, Okay, well, I’m going to be set once I have this course, then all I need to do is promote it, and like, creating that course, that was a whole roller coaster ride, but that’s for that’s a topic for another day. That’s more around self, trust, selling, but really then being like, okay, now I just need to, like, create consistent content to be able to promote this. And I just, again, the handbrake was on so much, because now it felt like there was so much more at stake. And like, the fear of being salesy and all that I just had, I had to really figure out, like, what is going on here? Because, as I said, I didn’t know that I was a perfectionist when I first started my blog. So initially it was like, Is this a motivation thing, like discipline, like what’s happening here, and then being able to learn from people like Brene Brown, Dr. Carol Dweck, and just starting to peace to go, like, Okay, I think even though I don’t relate with the word perfectionist, because I don’t think I’m perfect enough to be one, and I’m not like the person who does everything perfectly, like I would drive around for a whole year with stuff in the boot of my car or the trunk of my car that needed to just be taken inside, and I wouldn’t take it inside like that can’t be a perfectionist. Can it? Yes, it can.
But that, for me was just like, I don’t identify as a perfectionist, because a perfectionist would take it inside and organize it and not have this issue when they then are somewhere and need to put things in the boot of their car, and they can’t, because it’s full of just like random bits and pieces that need to be taken inside, and that would take five minutes to do. So I don’t do that anymore. I figured out how to solve for that, but I really didn’t identify with being a perfectionist. But then was like, oh shit, that is actually what’s happening. This is like, it’s not that I’m trying to do everything perfectly, but I’m so scared of being seen as imperfect that I’m getting in my own way in all sorts of different ways. And it is really painful, like it was painful when I was a student, and I would burn myself out and these things to the last minute and all that, but there was an external deadline. So that meant that, like, push would come to shove at some point. But with my business, there was no external deadline. There was no one saying, like, this blog post is due on this day. It was, there was so much more in business, so much more self accountability required to do it.
And also, again, it felt so much like me to be doing the things that I was doing that that felt so vulnerable and risky, and it felt easier to if I was having perfectionism come up in my accounting job when it meant like I had a report that I needed to do, and then I also had a very strict time limit that I was allowed to have to do it in, And that would then pull on that perfectionism handbrake, but like, I didn’t have this strong identity around, like, I want to be a really good accountant, so it wasn’t as painful for me. But when it came to my business and my blog and all of that, like I really I felt like me and someone a couple of years ago asked me if with my business, like, because a lot of people talk about, like, wanting time, freedom with their business, and like, location, independence and like, Sure, those things are nice. I enjoy having that. But that was never why I started my business. The freedom that I wanted was the freedom to be myself. And the freedom to be myself, not just in private when I’m listening to a podcast by myself, not just when I am in my own little world.
And as an introvert, that’s something I like doing, but I wanted to have the freedom of being publicly myself, of being seen as who I see myself to be, and that included, for me, feeling as though I was someone who was naturally good at coaching at seeing other, at seeing things and like pointing out patterns and things like that that other people couldn’t see, that I felt always like that was something I was naturally good at. And of course, anything, any area where we feel naturally good. So in PGSD, we have artists and musicians, and we have other people like me who are coaches, or they might be a graphic designer, or, like, typically, a lot of creative entrepreneurs, where they’re either creating with like art and that kind of visual creation, or they’re creating connection and doing it in the way that I do it, not in the exact way, but you know what I mean, like doing more of this kind of creating, where I’m not, like doing the piece of art, but like, in some ways, I am just a more verbal way. But anyway, so all of that to say, any area that we tend to feel naturally good at, we feel really energized by we tend to have a lot of perfectionism come up around that. Because there’s this fear when we’re in this perfectionist mindset.
There’s this fear of, like, if I really had a go, like, really try my best at the thing I feel naturally good at and I failed, like, that would be so painful. Like, if you are someone who you’re an artist, and people are always like, Oh my God, you’re so naturally good at art, but then it feels like a very vulnerable act to sell your art, to promote your art. The same with writing, the same with coaching. Like it was for me, like it took me two years once I had that online course, I wanted to do coaching as well, but I was like, there is no way I can do that. I have to do this course, I had this whole like, here are all the things I need to do before I be ready for that. All sounded very logical and practical, but I was just so scared to find out no one wanted to be my client, that if I did have someone as my client, that they would think, Oh, my God, this is so bad, and then I they would want a refund. They’d be angry at me. It wasn’t even about any of the money. It was like they would be angry at me for thinking that I was actually good at it, like those fears were what was going on and what was stopping me from creating consistent content and being able to build my business and get it off the ground.
I had to do. I had to really do so much work, and not that this is so much work, but to me, it was because I didn’t have someone like me now being able to say, Oh, hey, that’s what this is, and here’s what to practically do to be able to solve for it. And so what I want to introduce you to with this series, and this is me teaching as now someone who not just is very consistent with content, like I have over 500 podcast episodes I’ve had. I did a YouTube series many years ago now where I did a video every day for 100 and something days, we have an email called the perfectionist power up. That’s an email that goes out five times a week. It’s just a little motivational few sentences. We’ve sent that out now for about four years. So when it comes to this topic, as I said, like, I’ve been a full journey, like, I can now easily just go and talk on Instagram Stories, there’s no like, big emotional response that comes up for me. I was able to get very comfortable with that. I get I’m comfortable right now just sharing and talking and like knowing that 1000s of people will listen to this, and also that I’m like, I’m able to just be me in my content. I’m able to do it consistently.
And also there’s just a very simple process to be able to do this, but it doesn’t relate to and this is like a different approach, as I mentioned, I’m not just going to be sharing, like, here’s how to be consistent in the way you’ve heard it before. What I want to do is have your focus go from creating consistent content, which that’s going to be what happens. You’re going to get what you want, but to shift the focus from creating consistent content to having the focus in said be creating safe visibility and safe self expression. That is what we want to have you do so when you feel safe, being visible, and when you feel safe not just being visible, and when you’ve got the perfect, polished post, especially if you’re someone that has a hard time hitting publish. Like, you have a lot of ideas you, oh, my God. You have so many ideas for things you want to share, but then you keep stopping yourself, you don’t create it. Or if you do create it, you get stuck editing. Or if you do edit it, you don’t publish it. Or you like, go back to the drawing board.
We want to have you feeling. Writing, and I have a process for it that I’ll be guiding you through. Have you feeling safe, not just with the perfect, polished content, where you have an amazing hook and the perfect graphic and every word is perfectly right. This is very exhausting, and of course, it’s hard to be consistent when that’s your approach to content, because it is so time consuming, and you’re judging yourself so harshly for all of that time that you’re creating, and then all the time when you’re getting low engagements. Of course, the whole thing is really disheartening. You resent marketing. You don’t want to be doing it. We want to have you have a content creation experience where even though there might be some fears that come up and some doubts, and I’ll teach you what to do with those that you are able to feel like you. So it’s not just safe visibility as someone who’s perfect and has their shit together, but safe visibility that you feel safe to be you. The irony being that when we create in that way, you actually create the highest quality content you could possibly create, whether, like, you have a business similar to me or not, that you are able because that pressure is off and you’re not judging yourself, you are able to just do what needs to be done, and you might still be having graphics that are beautiful and all of those different things, but there’s so much less drama.
There so much less drama, so much more self support. And even if you get low engagement in the beginning, because that is an inevitable phase. If you are starting something new, like people aren’t going to be engaged with it because you haven’t been engaged with it enough. You need to have that build up and to have your expectations around how long it takes to get engagement. It’s not like, well, I posted consistently for a week. Where’s my big following? I, as I said, I loved I didn’t, I didn’t have that experience of, like, instant success. It took me a long time because I needed this creative cocoon, and we’re going to be talking about that as well. I needed this creative cocoon to create this like, basically, to create the safety for me to be able to create things and publish them and then create things. And some things didn’t get published. A lot of things did get published, I could just actually play around with things. I didn’t have to have everything I created be perfect, because it was okay if I didn’t use it, but I actually still published it in public. So I then didn’t get into this mode where I’ve seen a lot of perfectionists get stuck in this of like, I’m just gonna create, like, just for me, I’m not gonna publish it at all.
And then, because you don’t actually have any like, it’s not going out, you end up with having such harsh self judgment of like, well, now I’ve been practicing like. Now I’m just going to wait till I get this perfect one, and then I can put it out there until I have this like runway of a month’s worth of content. And then I’m going to put it out there of like, you actually need to be creating and publishing, creating and publishing in a way that feels really safe. You can create, as I talked about a creative cocoon. I will tell you more about what that is. Am I going to be doing that inside PGSD together. So I’m really excited for that. But you want to have this like creative cocoon for yourself that includes publishing things publicly to avoid the like nitpicking and like all of that, you want to be able to have that so that you are actually able to really have your own back as you create, to feel connected to yourself as you create, to be able to create what you want, and to not have this instant pressure of like, as soon as I post something, I should make a sale from it.
If you do have something for sale, if you don’t yet have anything for sale that maybe you’re focusing more on engagement, followers, likes, saves whatever that is, depending on what platform it is, downloads, views that when there’s that pressure there, without this support from yourself to find your voice, to have it take a minute to play around with different things, to actually enjoy the process. And we as perfectionists often like, I don’t care if I enjoy I just want the result, because that will validate me, that I am actually lovable, because my deepest fear is that I’m not lovable, and that’s why I’m saying that funny lovable, that I’m not lovable, and that no one wants to be around me when I’m actually being my true self. So that’s why I need to people, please. That’s why I need to, like, water myself down, or, like, pretend I don’t actually want to have this business when that’s like, my deepest desire, and it keeps bugging me, and like wanting me to act upon it, but I’m not actually doing that, and we want to just have you have an experience. It’s so important.
And this is something I don’t hear people talk about, because a lot of the people who teach on this topic are people who’ve never struggled with the fear of visibility and putting themselves out there. And they can say, like, who cares what people think? Because they didn’t care what people think, instead of here’s what you can do, practically speaking, to feel safe, to put yourself out there. And here’s practically speaking, what to do with some of the fears and doubts that will still come along for the ride. Here’s how to have them not be this massive problem that makes you freeze or makes you just polish and polish and polish and polish and polish and exhaust yourself with all the preparing and the over preparing, the research, the getting ready to have you just be able to release that into the world as yourself to feel safe doing so to feel safe when there isn’t a whole lot of engagement, and to keep doing that. Like, that’s how I was able to build my podcast. But before my podcast, like, if you go back and listen to episode one in 2017 before that, I did a YouTube channel. As I mentioned I was doing. I did a series called 365 days of personal growth on YouTube. And I saw, like, with that, what I did, because I wanted to show up consistently.
And I noticed with YouTube when I tried to do a video on like, because I’d started figuring out some things about perfectionism, I wanted to do a video on like, the all or nothing mindset, and I wanted to say it perfectly. I can’t remember if I scripted it or not, but I wanted to say every line just right, and I said the same line like over and over again, to the point where I didn’t even know what I was saying anymore. And it took me hours to create a 15 minute video, and then, oh my god, the dread around editing it, because I had so many goes at trying to say it, I was getting more frustrated with every time I tried to say it, it got harder to say it. And then what came out was a video where I’m much more stilted, much more like, tense, not just like flowy, how I am right now when I’m speaking that, I was like, Okay, I want to be showing up on YouTube, and because before that, I’ve been talking on Snapchat. So like, I just want to mention with my first podcast episode, that’s not my first time talking like this. And so if you listen to that, like, that’s how Sam started, it’s not this is me telling you, like the backstory.
So there was a YouTube channel. I was like, Okay, I need to figure out a way to, again, have a format that feels like me, that’s easy for me. And so what I did with this series is like, I want to do like every day, talking about my own personal growth again, talking in first person, I want to talk about my own personal growth, and what I want to do is have it be tied to something I’m already doing, which was doing my makeup. I’m definitely not a makeup artist, like someone on YouTube who could teach makeup, but I do my makeup every day. So I’m just going to record myself on my phone, chatting, no editing. I’m just gonna, like, talk and, like, say things and publish it. And I even did this as well before that, with just normal, like, how to kind of videos, it was so much harder for me to create one video than it was to create seven. So I just figured out, and I’ll be teaching this, I figured out a system that meant it was easy to create seven videos, and that I did that all at once. I’d like, sit in the room and change my top between each one and just like, let myself talk, no editing, and put it out into the world. And like, I was working a full time job, so I’d just batch create it.
And I was able to then, like, practice being myself and showing up and speaking and like, as much as for a perfectionist, it can give us nerves to be like you are going to talk without editing. That for me was something that was very freeing. Of like, Okay, well, if I’m not going to edit it, I’m just going to say it and keep going as if it’s a real conversation. So again, a lot of people don’t teach this kind of approach to content. They’re like, you should say it right? You should say the most compelling thing. Think about what your audience wants. Think, think about the gap in the market. Like, I just had to actually think about what am I wanting to share, and how can I share it in first person, so that I can actually get it out into the world? And how can I share it at high volume, so that there isn’t all this pressure on each piece of content? Like, the more I create, the more easily I create. And so I want to have a system as well around that, because I needed to have some kind of system so that it was easy to create a high volume of content and have this creative overflow, which I’ll be talking about later in this series.
To have this creative overflow to not have to publish every single thing I create. I want to have the freedom to create and not publish something, but I don’t want to not publish anything, because then the nitpicking and the self judgment and like, then it makes it so hard to ever feel ready. And a lot of times I just see perfectionist when they do that, and then like, oh my god, I had this idea for another business and things like that. Or maybe I should do a completely different platform. This other person said this. Or, like, I saw this person on this thing doing that, and so I should do that too. We want to have you feeling safe to be self expressed. Feel safe to be visible, to give yourself a creative cocoon, so that you are able to find your feet, find your voice, and then once you are consistently and again, the byproduct of this is consistent content, but it’s consistent content without force and without burning yourself out. So we want to have you be able to do that.
We want to have you be able to do that, and to have that safe self expression and safe visibility, so that you can create and create I’m going to be talking about in the next part about Spark content, so that you can create spark content that really feels like you and will convert and engage an audience, but not because you’re trying to think about what does the audience want? You’re thinking about what brings out that spark in me. So I will talk about that in the next episode. You are able to have really, just, overall, a practical approach, because I didn’t see anyone teaching content creation the way it needed to be taught for me. So that’s what this is. That is what I’m teaching. I’m so excited for this to be coming into PGSD I’ve coached for so long on content creation, but haven’t really owned until so recently that, like, this is something I have a lot of wisdom around that friends and family ask me for advice on this topic a lot. But because of my perfectionist brain, I was like, Well, no, I’m not perfectly consistent on Instagram, so that doesn’t count when, like, I am very good at consistency when I want to be and when I feel safe to be. And for me, Instagram was where I felt less safe, but also I didn’t actually have a publishing system.
So I’m going to be talking to in part four about having a simple publishing system. We’re going to be calling it power publishing, because it’s very powerful to do this. Having a system like I had a different system with the podcast and with Instagram, and the system with the podcast really supported me with consistency, whereas I didn’t set up a system like that with Instagram, and so it was much harder for me to feel safe, to show up, to create that creative overflow, without burning myself out and without then having to be so harsh on myself, like I was just with Instagram, more like, way more judgmental of what got posted. It felt more visual, and therefore like less safe, because other people I knew were watching it, the podcast felt more safe to me.
So anyway, I’m going to be sharing more about all of this in this series, and on the 18th of July, we’re going to be opening the doors to PGSD so that you can be invited in to be guided through my simple process for creating consistent content by focusing on creating safe visibility and self expression. It’s going to be very practical. It’s not this like, here are some ideas for you to think about. I’m going to be telling you exactly what to do, as with anything like, as with power planning, there is structure and flexibility baked into that structure so it can work exactly for you. So I’m very excited about that. And for we’ve had messages from people who are like, I’m already going to be joining for this enrollment. So I’m so excited for those people. I’m so excited for our PGSDers, and I really want to invite you in, if content creation, if this has been your struggle, or it hasn’t been your struggle because you’ve had such a hard time even getting yourself to get started with it and like actually getting going, then I really want to invite you in. I really want to have you inside PGSD so that you can have the support to create safe visibility and create consistent content.
Outro
If you can relate to what I share in this episode, then I want you to know that this is the exact work that we are going to be doing inside my program, Perfectionist Getting Shit Done, aka PGSD. So from July 18, which is very soon, from July 18, for one week only, PGSD is going to be open for enrollment, and during this opening, those who join and those who are already inside will be going through a creative cocoon experience together, which is a three month process where you’re going to rebuild your relationship with content. Stop ghosting yourself, stop ghosting your followers. You’re going to be finally able to show up consistently in a way that feels natural and aligned and sustainable, you’re not going to burn out. This is the answer if you’ve been spinning your wheels, if you have been feeling so guilty all the time that you aren’t showing up consistently, even though you should be doing that, even though you technically know how to do it, that you just can’t get yourself to do it. This experience inside PGSD, the creative cocoon, it is exactly what you have been missing. We’re going to have you creating safe visibility and safe self expression so that you can show up the way you want and have it create the results that you know it can. So I want to invite you inside samlaurabrown.com/pgsd, is where to go to find out more about the program and join the wait list so you can join us inside as soon as doors open on July 18.