I Need a Good Name for a News Show

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good name for a news showOne of my ideas for my budding YouTube broadcasting empire is a news show. I’ve finally crystallized this idea with topics and a format, and I might shoot my first show as early as tomorrow. But, one that’s hindering me here is a name for this news show. I know I could just put up a video of me talking, but since I want to build a brand and develop some real content and programming here, I do think a name and something reminiscent of structure is good. I think a video of me talking is going to make it look like I am a political vlogger, which is not what I am and not what I want to be.

Topics and Format

So, my idea for the news show is to utilize my previous experience in international extemporaneous speaking and provide analysis of current events while answering questions that could come up in actual coming rounds during speech and debate tournaments. I will pull my questions from Extemp Central, which does a good job of regularly posting relevant questions on a weekly basis. In each episode, I will answer one question to the best of my ability, doing research and practicing what I’m going to say before I shoot the video. It’s newsy without becoming ‘entertainment’, it’s something I can do by myself, and it’s something that I think can be of value beyond the speech community. Below are some of the most recent questions that I want to tackle:

  • Is Benghazi the next Watergate?*
  • Will the U.S. launch a manned mission to Mars by 2030?
  • Will Mark Sanford’s victory assist the Democrats in enhancing their appeal to female voters in 2014?
  • Can Jeb Bush escape his brother’s shadow and win the presidency in 2016?
  • How should the Department of Defense handle new allegations of sexual assault in the military?
  • Will the U.S. Senate approve the UN arms trade treaty?
  • In regards to the Middle East peace process, can China succeed where the United States has failed?
  • What steps does Pope Francis need to take to enhance Catholicism’s reputation in Europe?
  • Is natural gas the global energy source of the future?
  • What can the international community do to encourage more corporate responsibility in areas of the developing world?

*Definitely tackling this one for my first episode, even though it probably is the most controversial of the selected topics.

What About “All is On with Allison?”

This name, which is the name of the blog if you haven’t noticed, was what my fiancee suggested I name the news show. Although it’s good, and the name was originally for a political radio show, I really don’t think it’s a good fit. I don’t like that it positions me as the star as the show, which is not what I want because I do want to have the flexibility to expand it to include a panel of experts in the future to discuss these issues. I also don’t think “all is on” fits either. I don’t think all is on, at least with this show.

Actually, after all this. I think I just thought of a great name for my news show: “Fresh Interpretations.” That’s what I hope to provide with these videos, and I believe that I am doing something that at least the mainstream media isn’t doing. With some of the proposed topics, I don’t think the main news sources are asking those questions and providing that specific insight. It also reflects on what I do best: offering a new perspective and doing something better than the rest.

Okay, so after all that, I might not have needed any of your help at all. I just needed to listen to the first few bars of Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” and I just came up with it all on my own. Who knew jazz was so inspiration and so good at getting the juice flowing?

So… About That Video

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about that videoI know yesterday I said that I was going to make my first video and get it up on YouTube. That didn’t happen, or else you would have heard about that. It’s not that I didn’t try. I ran into a few obstacles along the way.

The Oblivion Video

With Oblivion, I made the character. I tested the software I had downloaded to see how it worked and to see how good it caught my voice and the audio. However, when I recorded a minute of game play, I stopped it because I wasn’t sure if it was still catching the audio since I was still wearing a headset. This is when I discovered that it didn’t catch any of the game visuals. It was only catching the desktop. So, I couldn’t make an Oblivion video and that made me very sad.

The Poker Video

However, that did not stop me! I decided that what I can do is make a video of myself playing poker. I would accomplish the same things, except that it would either be a short or long video depending on how long I lasted in the tournament. So, I actually started recording myself! I got 12 minutes of recording done, and actually learned a few things (there’s no evidence of this 12 minutes because I deleted it, but it’s not wasted time I promised). Here’s what I learned throughout this whole little recording, making my first video ordeal:

  • Talking while I’m Playing Poker is Really Tough – I found that trying to play and to say what I’m thinking is very difficult, and probably hinders my ability to play my very best. Communicating my ideas and thought processes only slows down those processes, and trying to explain what I’m doing and what others are doing is tough to keep straight to do before the hand ends. Perhaps poker videos just aren’t my thing, at least not yet.
  • I Do Need to Plan What I’m Going to Say – Even though I do have experience in impromptu and extemporaneous speaking, I do think I do need to plan some of what I’m going to say. At the very least, I could outline my introduction and a few big points that I want to mention in the video. Obviously, more planning is going to happen for the talk show, the nightly news show, and any other shows that I do.
  • I Need More Practice at This – After the 12 minutes, I continued to play and to speak as if the camera was still rolling. If I’m going to do these types of videos, I do need to practice constantly talking and having something to say. The big reason why I deleted the 12 minutes is because there were too many instances where I didn’t say anything for several seconds. I would have had to throw out most of it in editing anyway.

Still Testing Software

Today, I spent time looking for a solution to the Oblivion problem, of which I am still researching and testing. First, I looked for an option to play Oblivion in a window, versus the full-screen takeover, and there is no such option (unless its been disabled with one of the mods, but I don’t think so). Then, I looked at recording software that’s designed for video games, and I found one that’s highly rated. It took some trial and error to get the hot keys right, so starting and stopping recordings is easy and doesn’t interfere with the game play. I think I have something, but the first one I tried froze the game and I had to reboot. I’ll have to try again to see if it was just a one time thing.

That’s where I am in this whole video thing. I needed to take a break and write this post before getting back to the problem. Hopefully, it’s just about solved and I can actually make a video today. If not, then I might just do a powerpoint or me talking or something. By now, I need to start making some videos and getting some things up on YouTube.

Pivoting Your Business 180 Degrees is Crazy

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turning a business 180 degrees

Moving, and turning a business 180 degrees. That’s the plan.

Quite frankly, I don’t really know how to pivot my business 180 degrees, but that’s essentially what I’m doing right now with my business. I love blogging and creating content. I just don’t like doing it for other people anymore. I’m over it, and I really went into business to create more of my own content, instead of creating content for others, and a year-and-a-half into this I’m still spending most of my time creating content for others. So, I’m pivoting myself and Stirring Media, and we’re going to create our own content. I need to revise the business model, and the website, and our social media presences. I also need to once again drop clients and figure everything out. Oh, and I should probably tell my business consultants about this.

Or, Maybe Not, We’ll See

However, I did receive a call from a lead just now, a lead that would be really awesome to work with and would save my company from going broke. The company has a software that allows corporations and interest groups track relevant legislation, which sounds fantastic. Do blog posts about the importance of following legislation, how to respond, how to contact the relevant people to get your say involved, how to encourage action (perhaps this is something I should write about on the Amnesty blog?). It’s great stuff, although I admit, my sales pitch on the phone was horrible. I don’t know if I sold them on anything that they already don’t have the manpower to do, because the lead said they have someone on board to do this.

Man, I got all excited about the YouTube and the blogging and creating my own content. Maybe we could slowly transition, instead of suddenly transition. It would mean I’d have to worry less about becoming proprietary so quickly. But, it’s also more creating content for other people, which is what we need to get away from right now. So, we might pivot, we might not pivot, we might pivot very slowly. Don’t know yet. Ask again tomorrow.

We’re Still Making a Video Though

Yes! We are still totally making a video and I am going to do that tonight! I am going to record me playing Oblivion for about 30 minutes because I need to take action and to create a video. I also need to test my 30-day trial of the recording software I downloaded, so I can see how good it is and see what kind of outcome I get with it. I still want to do the talk show, which has a tentative name of “Real Chats by the Fake Fireside”, but I don’t want to waste an interview because there was shoddy audio or I mess it up trying to use the software or something. I don’t want to have to do an interview again, but I can totally just do another 30 minutes of Oblivion. It’s more fun, and much easier to do if something goes wrong.

Another Cool YouTube Show Idea

Since my background is in marketing and business blogging, I could always do videos on that, offering quick tips or answering questions or doing some how-to’s. Content creation is only getting more and more popular, and writing and blogging still remain two very tough spots for marketers and businesses creating content. That’s a niche I could fill. In my initial research, it looked like that there weren’t too many videos on this topic. I think also the challenge here is presenting something like business blogging, which isn’t all that visual, in a very visual way. I could couple it with a powerpoint presentation, but we’ll see.

Okay! We have a business to pivot and a video to make, so we’re going to do that. Yay!

Ideas for My YouTube Programming/Empire

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YouTube EmpireYesterday, I discussed the very real possibility of venturing into YouTube, creating video content that people will love and maybe turning into the Viacom of YouTube will all sorts of channels on all sorts of things. Today, with consultation from my business coach, I’m totally gonna do it and I have several ideas on some really good programming and on how to start. Fortunately, it’s all going to work out because I have a fake fireplace in my home office, which will make a great backdrop for my shows and I can top it all off with an app of roaring fire and it will be great.

Pilot Idea – Me Playing Oblivion

My idea to get the first video up, just to see what happens here, is to do 30 minutes of me playing Oblivion. It should be good, since Sean uploaded a whole bunch of mods that I’ve never really used, so I don’t know what they do. I’ve also never played the expansions, so I could get those and play those as well. This is more just to see how good my audio/visual equipment is, practice talking as I’m playing so the audience doesn’t get bored, and to give something to my friends to watch, to share, and to laugh at. I mean, to be frank, they’ll be the only ones watching in the first place.

This is also just a pilot idea because there’s a whole group in the UK already doing something similar with other games, and I don’t need to copy what they do. Maybe if I just do really old games it will be okay, games that still have that sentimental, nostalgic value. But, I don’t want playing video games to be my YouTube thing. Perhaps poker from time to time though, because poker is awesome.

For Real Kine Idea – A Talk Show

So, after everyone has made fun of me playing Oblivion, I will get serious with the serious topics and broadcasting. One of those serious, for-real-kine ideas is a talk show, where I interview cool people doing things, or awesome people who are part of an awesome project. I need to make a list of all the people I want to interview, because I can think of a whole bunch of neat folks to interview. However, what I want to do more is just interview them, but turn it into a conversation about the broader topic. So, for example, one of the people I want to interview is my business coach. Instead of it just being an interview with her and her business, I want it to expand to the broader topics of entrepreneurship and economic empowerment, and cool things like that. This is the talk show idea.

Another For Real Kine Idea – A Nightly News Show

This is another idea that I have that I’d really love to pursue because American mainstream media and cable news is so messed up. I don’t know if there’s anyway to fix it, except to be the change that you want to happen in this world. I’m going to be change in cable news and American mainstream media with my nightly news show. I’d like to cover international news since it’s important and no one does that. I’d also like to cover those tough big issues that never get any coverage. I’ll work on it and deliver the news next to my fake fireplace. It’ll be amazing.

That’s all I have right now for ideas. Maybe if this gets really big and awesome then I could have other people carry out their ideas, and it’ll be a cool little YouTube video media empire. That would be great, you know, to hire people to make YouTube video’s of themselves and their passion. Sounds amazing. Stirring Media at its finest.

My New Plan Towards Saving the World (and Reaching Oprah Status)

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saving the worldMay has so far been a stressful, spring-cleaning, rethinking, must-build-identity-capital, sort of month. This month has been all about making the key decisions that will define, oh I don’t know, the rest of my life or something like that.

My business is just about broke, which isn’t fun, and this is the primary reason that I’ve been stressed, and thinking, and building identity capital. I’ve lost some major revenue sources, on top of the fact that my latest big project ended up costing me money than making me money. It just seems like I make the money, but the costs keep increasing and have finally increased more than what I’ve been making. I need to do something quickly. I’m thinking that since I’ve come to terms with the idea of my business failing and having nothing but a website, and a domain name, and inbound marketing skills, that I should try something new with all that. Do some sort of 180, perhaps almost ditching all that I’ve done before.

I’m Actually Thinking YouTube

So, my magnificent plan B here is to go for it with YouTube; just start making videos and posting them, figuring out how to make great videos and to create that identity capital that turns me into a YouTube star. From what I’ve read, YouTube is the untapped gold mine, where there’s not only a lot of traffic but there’s also tons of opportunity to create great content and for YouTube and advertisers to help you create that content and to help you make money from that content. YouTube is competing with Hulu and Netflix, and they want to compete with television when all is said and done, so I think there’s a huge opportunity there to create great videos, to create content that’s of value to people and entertaining at the same time.

I don’t have much idea of the kind of content I’d like to produce. I could fit the gamer girl niche. I could also produce a talk show or news show, interviewing awesome people doing awesome things. I could just make some sort of YouTube reality show, of me doing things in life and commenting on them. I could film my journey as a Half the Sky Ambassador, spreading the word about those issues and spreading the word about what others are doing. I do, however, have a fake fireplace in my office. I totally intend to use that, make that all camera worthy. My home office, it turns out, was totally made for YouTube videos.

What Is Oprah Status?

Oprah status is my phrase for being so awesome that you can just start your own television network, you know, because you’re Oprah and you have that kind of clout. Then, you’re so awesome that when your network isn’t doing too well, the way to save it is to go back to hosting your own television show, on your own television network, and that does the trick. That’s essentially how it went down at OWN, and I know this because I wrote a 700-word article for a client on the future of OWN. Oprah’s back doing what she does best, so I’m not worried.

Did I mention Oprah also has her own magazine and website and book club and what not? The woman is fantastic. I mean, she said something about not liking beef, and then the beef industry got angry and sued her because she was Oprah, and the beef industry knew she had the power to turn everyone against beef. That’s the kind of influence she has, and that’s the kind of influence I want to have. I will use that influence to save the world, you know, end women’s oppression and end poverty and good stuff like that. It’s going to be fantastic.

Where Has the Time Gone? This is Ridiculous

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where did the time goI have not blogged in a really long time! I promised that I was going to blog while I was in Las Vegas, and after Las Vegas, and I got sidetracked and I didn’t do any of that. That was almost two months ago, and so much has transpired over that time. Essentially, what’s happened is that I lost money playing poker, I got really busy with the business, now the business doesn’t have a lot of money, so I think I need to rethink my life or something. Actually, I probably need to rethink a lot of things. Except the poker, as I’m slowly making my money back online.

Blogging Case Study

Obviously, this is out the window. I’ve long past the deadline at the end of the quarter to evaluate where I’ve come with the blogging. I’ve probably lost most of the ground I made in the first 70 days or so of the year. I also need to come up with a whole new list of blog post ideas and a brand new goal for this blog and all that other good stuff. I could just shoot for turning this thing into a business and becoming famous online or something, but then I feel that’s what every blogger shoots for.

Oh no, I need to think about this like how technology evangelist Ramon Ray does. I am a publisher, although I’m not quite sure what I publish yet. That goes with the figuring out blog topics, new blog goal, maybe something else to study. I don’t know. While I am at it, I should come up with a cool title, like how Ramon Ray is the “technology evangelist.” I don’t know what I am yet.

Saving the World Mission is Still Here, Though

Besides the fact that everything else has gone to garbage, I am now the St. Louis Community Ambassador for the Half the Sky Movement. The movement is based off the book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (which is a great book that everyone should buy/borrow and read), and is about ending oppression for women and girls worldwide. I think I’m going to be devoting some content to that, promoting documentary screenings (the book was then turned into an AMAZING PBS documentary, which you should watch after you read the book) and thinking of other awesome initiatives to do to encourage action and to end oppression. This falls right into line with the ‘saving the world’ mission, which was cornerstone to this whole blogging thing. Can’t forget about saving the world! What’s the point of life if you are not going to save the world?

So, What’s Next?

Good question, after two months of my life has gone by so very fast. So very, very fast. I do have to plan my first Half the Sky screening, which is planned for June 6 at 5:30 p.m. It is going to be about economic empowerment, but that’s all I know so I need to work on that. I also want to do a business blogging class, which I think would be valuable to potential customers. I think I could charge $15 for entry or something. I do need to make changes to the services that I offer with Stirring Media, since I think I need to change direction with the business. I might need to revert back to freelance writing, or focus my services a bit more on just a few verticals or something. Not sure yet. I’m going to work on the new service pages, take a way a few services that no one wants, and see how much of a difference that makes.

I Have a New Kitty!

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new kitty

The new kitty doesn’t yet have a name. He probably will tonight.

Kitty Cat Cat Cat Cat Cat

Our new kitty finally arrived from the shelter yesterday. He is awesome and it is so wonderful to have a cat in the house again. He is only 20 months old and he will be our kitty for the rest of his life. I am at work as I write this and I miss him very much. He needs love and attention and treats. I might go home early so I can pet him and teach him how to be held. However, I must do more work… after I finish writing this post. Fortunately, I get to have even more coffee tonight so I will get lots and lots and lots of work done (and playtime, which is most important).

He doesn’t have a name yet, as we originally planned on naming him Pizza the Cat, but he doesn’t look like a pizza. We want to give him a poker-related name, but haven’t found one that’s really good. The best we have so far is Mr. BigStacks, which we might end up settling on because that’s not bad, but we have yet to think of one that jumps out at us. We’ll probably have a name by the end of tonight. He can’t go this long without a name.

Good News and Bad News

new kittyGood News about the Cat: He is fuzzy, outgoing, cute, playful, and talkative.

Bad News about the Cat: He doesn’t yet understand bedtime, or what to do when the humans are sleeping. Thus, he wins at 7:00 a.m because I got out of bed, and tried to catch more sleep on the couch, but he saw me and that was enough to wake him up and to get him talking.

Good News: He always wins. That’s the rule, except when he wants almond butter. However, all the rest of the time, he wins. It’s probably the only way I’ll wake up in the morning.

Bad News: I leave this Saturday to go to Las Vegas for a week! I have to go all those days without any kitty! That’s no fun, and I am worried the kitty will miss me and bond with Sean without me.

Good News: He understands the scratch post, so he won’t ruin the carpet.

Bad News: Anything that dangles is a toy, so my ear buds and belts are in grave danger.

Other Than the Kitty…

I am incredibly tired (because the kitty doesn’t yet understand bedtime), so I haven’t been as productive as I need to be today. I’m a little scattered and it’s taking me longer than usual to get each thing done. This is also a reason why I want to go home early. I can take a quick nap before my Amnesty meeting tonight (which also gets in the way of kitty time). I wish I could skip it, but I can’t because I promised yesterday that I would arrive early to put the sign up for the meeting at the coffee shop. Now, it’s all a matter of remind myself to go to the meeting, and to go early, and to remember the sign.

new kittyBut, the meeting will be fun! And I will have a medium soy latte with brown sugar! We will discuss things to do regarding the Arms Trade Treaty, and it will be invigorating as I will contribute ideas and then feel inspired to reading our book club reading once I get home. Of course, if I don’t get home and get distracted. He meows a lot and wants to get my ear buds.

What I’ve Done Today List

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what i've done list

I did already!

Yesterday, I made myself a big giant to-do list, and it didn’t even include all that I needed to do. However, I did get some of those things done today as well as things that were on today’s to-do list. A great motivational tip I once learned said to create a “What I’ve Done” list instead of a to-do list. This way, you get to look at how much you accomplished instead of looking at what you failed to get done. Besides, a “What I’ve Done” list avoids that thing we all do, where we add things to do list just to check them off right away and make ourselves feel that much more productive. If you make to-do lists regularly, then you’ve probably done it. Anyway, here’s what I’ve done today, as of this moment. It does not include anything that I still need to get done today or anything I am currently working on because I am multitasking:

  • Prepare Food and Water for the New Kitty
  • Call HubSpot
  • Drink More Coffee
  • Sent three marketing emails
  • Set up my social media posts for the next week
  • Scheduled my eye appointment
  • Added HTML tags to five pages of web content
  • Watched a webinar about inbound marketing
  • Wrote a blog post on how to turn one idea into 20 pieces of content for tomorrow
  • Sent an email inquiring about a venue for my upcoming business blogging classes
  • Went grocery shopping, but didn’t get everything I needed
  • Finally got the laundry off the line
  • Found my editorial calendar for Maurice
  • Got a press released published for a client
  • Followed up with same client about a case study, and showed him the published release
  • Deposited funds from Paypal into my business account
  • Tentatively planned and scheduled my work for next week

Whoa! I got a lot done for the day, and it’s not over yet (the day ends when you go to bed, not when the workday ends). As an entrepreneur, the workday never ends. Although, by that logic, it means you’re sleeping through your workdays as well. So, you should take the time to get the sleep you need.

What Else is There?

Obviously, I didn’t do everything from my big giant to-do list. I didn’t even write everything down in that blog post. I also have two more blog posts to write today as well. Plenty to do, and I must keep going! I am heading to Las Vegas next week, so I can’t slack off and take breaks now. Although I plan to stay in touch with work when I am away, I want to get as much done as possible so I don’t have to spend too much time working (and spend a little more time playing poker). I also have delegated a big project to a contact writer, so I need to stay on top of that to ensure that it’s getting done on schedule and is being done to the client’s standards.

Things are on track and looking good! I am excited! I am making moves, getting things done, and planning to make better moves and to get more awesome things done in the future. No slacking off! Maybe I should pretend I am 19 and a sophomore in college again, where I stayed up until 2 a.m. and would wake up at 8:00 a.m. to go to my 9 a.m. class. I really don’t know how well that worked. I just know I slept in class a lot. However, I don’t have as many extracurricular activities as I did then, and I don’t have to attend class. I just need to hop on my computer, get what I need to done, and make it a point to exercise and to work from other places from time to time. Easy enough. Can I do it at 25?

My Big Fat To-Do List

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big giant to-do listSee, I have my daily to-do list, where I write down the things that need to get done that day (as well as whatever else I can squeeze). This leaves a lot of things forgotten, especially personal things, or even bigger tasks that are tougher to break down into a few steps that could get accomplished over the next several days. I’ve decided to put together a to-do list of these things, as most of them either get forgotten or squeezed into the weekend, when I don’t want to do them because it’s the weekend. Hey, whatever works to remind myself and to hold myself accountable.

  • Find and Choose Recipes – I’ve been eating out too much lately, so this means I’ve probably slacked on my veganism and nutrition. I need to get back on track by picking a few good recipes, buying the ingredients for those recipes, and then cooking the food. I have Pinterest and a couple of cookbooks, so really I don’t have any excuses.
  • Go Grocery Shopping – Purchase said ingredients, and other needed things.
  • Prepare Food and Water for the New Kitty – Our new kitty is finally arriving from the shelter on Monday! We need to prepare the home for our new family members i.e. put out the food and water. The water dish just needs to be refilled since I’ve already washed it. I do want to change the food dish since the food has been sitting there for a few weeks with no one to eat it. It’s probably dusty by now.
  • Post a Hand on Flopturnriver.com – Did you really think I wouldn’t have anything poker related to do? I played a cash game yesterday for an hour and lost two dollars. This was after being up three dollars after playing heads up. I grant, I got lucky. I’m not sure if I kept running into hands or if people were playing back at me. Maybe both. This is why I ought to post a hand (or two).
  • Play Poker – I always need to play poker. It’s always on the to-do list. Despite yesterday’s losses, I might play again tonight. Poker is fun!
  • Revisit My Content Inventory – This is an inventory of all the lead generation content Stirring Media has, and the last time I looked at this thing as at least a few months ago. Maybe more than that since I don’t remember. I know I am planning new content, and have created new content since I last looked at the inventory so it does need a revisit. It’ll also be a good chance to see which kinds of content I ought to create.
  • Work on My Internet Marketing Guide – One of my first pieces of lead generation content was a white paper on building a keyword strategy. It was meant to be a series. However, I’ve only written the one, and I’ve kind of started on the next in the series, which is about business blogging. Not only does the first one need uber updating, but I should finish the series as well.
  • Call HubSpot – Apparently, they still don’t have my new address. So, they are sending checks to my old address, in which Ken has to call and tell me to pick up the mail. I don’t want the building owner to see me, because I’ve cancelled my services with him, so I don’t want him to get the idea I’m trying to steal. I swore I told them, but I need to do this.
  • Exercise – I need to do lots more of this. I need to play more Wii, or go to Tower Grove Park, or take a class, or go running, or a combination of the above. It’s part of my vision to achieve Oprah status!
  • Drink More Coffee – This is always on the to-do list. It’s yummy and empowering. And, obviously, I have a lot to do. When do I ever have nothing to do?

One Idea into 20 Pieces of Content

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i am grumpyThat was the inspiration to try and to come up with additional value for my clients with the content I am already creating for them. I wanted to come up with additional angles, additional types of content, additional research that could be used to talk about topics that I’ve been talking about for months and months now. However, I can’t find the source of the idea, “20 pieces of content from one topic/idea”. I thought it was in the book I just finished reading, but I conducted a search through it on both Google Books and on the Kindle and I go nothing. I tried a Google search and I can’t it in any of the results that come up. I swear I didn’t imagine it, but I can’t find or remember the source.

Now, I’m Grumpy and Tired

I’ve been grumpy for the past two-and-half hours. I had high hopes for the latter half of the day. I still do, but now I’m tired and finicky and really want more coffee at 6:35 p.m. I still want to work, and there’s still work to be done, but my brain is mush. I need to take a break so I can refocus myself. Fortunately, Sean is starting to play Age of Empires II. That is always fun to watch. I will do that and come back.

I’m Also Frustrated about This Pen

I’m really weird about pens. I like to use only a couple of pens at a time, use them all up before I replace them. I currently have 50 or so replacement pens right now. I’m also particular about which color I use where. My planner calls for a blue pen, as does my reporter’s notebook. I like to use a black pen when I sign things and when I write letters for Amnesty International. I do this because pens have power. They are mightier than the sword so it’s important to concentrate that power in a few select places.

Now, I’m frustrated about this specific pen because I think it’s supposed to die already and it hasn’t yet. On top of that, I can’t tell how much ink is left and it doesn’t have a cap. So, I can’t bring it with me everywhere because it will muck up things. Therefore, I have this immortal pen and I don’t know how to kill it.

One Idea into 20 Pieces of Content

I’ve decided that the best thing to do to make the most of this situation is to come up with my own way to turn one idea into 20 pieces of content. It will be published on my content marketing blog on Friday. I figure that others might be interested in how to get the most of their good ideas and topics in content marketing while making lemonade out of lemons. I also fulfill my goal of providing more value to my clients, and can perhaps come up with ways to augment my services and be able to charge new clients for them in the future. I already need to improve them vastly with what I learned from the marketing agency book I just read. I have to do a lot of things, really.

However, I have taken my break and eaten more food and now I am energized. I am now getting more things while planning for tomorrow and making progress with client projects. I am motivated to get more things done, to read another chapter or two in the new content marketing book I am reading (and perhaps make progress on our Amnesty book club book), make plans, and design businesses processes. It’s all the fun stuff you get to do when you have your own business and work from home and neat stuff like that.