A challenge that will show you how the things you do everyday can become content for your business. You aren't boring!
I have a challenge for you!
I actually wrote this extremely late at night after not being able to sleep and posted it in Chromatical Club as I wanted members to join in the conversation and share their lists, as it's super interesting (it'll all make sense soon). I wanted to share it with you here too though because I think it's a challenge that many people who think that perhaps their lives are too boring to share online, or they don't share much of their lives at all online will benefit from.
This challenge comes in two parts…
PART 1.
I want you to write down (spend some time on this) all the things you do in your world every day.
Don’t overthink it or curate this like a presentable perfect showreel. I want you to get super real here. No one's going to see it. Just you.
I want a big list of everything that you wouldn’t usually share online… Like down to the most basic of stuff like 'put wood on the fire'
Some examples? Maybe you'd write...
Drove to meet a client,
Fed my dog but ran out of food
Couldn’t get the tin off the tin spaghetti so had baked beans on toast for breakfast
Craved ice cream, got ice cream
Had a nap
Got all creative so did some work
Cleaned my brushes
Wanted to go roller skating but it started to rain so scrolled through TikTok
Went to the post office
Left one customer's package at home
Went back to post office
Bought chewing gum for the first time since high school
Brushed my hair
Chose my outfit
Changed my outfit as it had a stain on it
Did some work on my laptop but left my charger at home as usual so sat at the park listening to emo music instead….. ‘
Like the full blown 'mundane' stuff right? There's no right or wrong. It's just whatever.
It doesn't have to be your 'usual day' it can be a big mashup of things that could happen on random days or that have happened before. There are no rules here. Let ANY boring old thing just spill out onto the paper.
THEN!!!!
PART 2.
I want you to write a list of your favourite people that you follow on your favourite platform.
THEN... I want you to imagine the things on your list are things that they shared in their way. Maybe some of them already are the kinds of things that they already share.
Would you enjoy watching them?
Would you just know that they'd find a way to make it uniquely them and turn that 'mundane/boring' thing into something that was somehow... interesting?
I want you to recognise how on paper that yeah, they’re probably so boring… but imagine one of your fav people sharing in stories or on their feed about their stupid faulty can opener and how they really wanted tin spaghetti 😂 amongst their sales posts and sharing their day.
Think back to all the people you’ve seen posting similar things to that or how you wish your fav people would share more things like that so you could get to know them, their personality and get to see more of their worlds.
Then start to recognise the value of (if you’re comfortable) connecting with people by sharing these sorts of things that you think are boring. And realise they're probably only boring because it's what you see and do every day. But to others who follow you, would probably be so interesting. People love watching you just being you. Sometimes that 'mundane' stuff is actually not at all mundane to others.
You don’t need to be going and doing wild things all the time. The interesting stuff is already happening in your world from just being you.
People are always shocked when I tell them the types of things they could share (if they wanted to and it suited their brand etc) online… they couldn’t believe anyone would watch them. But when I ask what they enjoy watching it’s pretty much the same mundane stuff that they couldn’t believe anyone would watch of theirs.
They avoid sharing the every day stuff, and end up playing it safe with content. That safe content is actually usually the REAL mundane stuff. Safe content is often the content that tanks and you wonder why no one's engaging with you.
It's the every day life stuff that usually gets me and my clients the most engagement. So do this challenge and explore what's happening!
Of course it's important to set your boundaries. I mean, maybe some accounts would build their following from posting videos of them on the loo, but that's DEFINITELY not everyone's cup of tea. So you know... use your head and share what your ideal client avatar would appreciate (We do Ideal client avatar work in The Experience if you haven't joined that yet.)
It definitely is important to stick to your values. If things aren't comfortable for you to share, don't share it!! You need to be okay with it. I don't share any photos or videos of Florence's face. That's just one of my boundaries. You'll have yours!
Just be aware of the difference between boundaries and doubts or fears. It can be scary to share yourself online. You don't need to do it all at once, you can build up to it. This challenge is all about bringing into your awareness that your everyday stuff is probably interesting to others. So if you're out of content ideas, you might just find a heap of things that will start to really form trust and build solid relationships with your followers. Which in turn will help you make those sales. Because people love buying from people they know. So allowing people to get to know you can play a big role.
I hope that by bringing awareness to the types of content you might like seeing online especially when compared to 'buy my item buy my item book my service book my service' posts, and then comparing it to the things you do everyday, you'll realise that your life actually isn't boring (if you think it is) and you have SO much you could share to build stronger connections and really awesome and genuine friendships with your customers or clients.
Whenever I share anything to do with my personal life like baking Florence's birthday cake, my attempt at cookies that turned out super flat and all joined up together, how I've lost another lip balm, how I went vintage shopping on the weekend, a video of just me going for a drive - sometimes in silence, a trip to the post office, going out to lunch with a pal, how I had jaffles for lunch, pretty flowers I saw on my walk, our tomatoes we have growing in our garden, the Easter egg chocolate stains on my sweatshirt, the current songs I'm listening to on Spotify, that I have a cold, omg... just the every day things. They are my highest engaging stories. They are my most engaging posts and reels. They are what help me make sales more than anything else in the long run because people get to know me and people actually stop to watch.
So check in!! What do you like watching from other people and see how similar that is to your life. YOU ARE SOOO JUST AS INTERESTING!!
I thought this challenge might give you the confidence to let people in a little more and believe that your life is interesting to others (if you don't believe it yet!)