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[SGC-27] How To Set Yourself Up For Success With Content Brainstorming Sessions
Episode 2728th June 2023 • She's Got Content • Melissa Brown, MD
00:00:00 00:18:28

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In this episode, I'm going to show you how to come up with endless ideas for compelling content that your ideal audience will absolutely love. You'll never run out of content ideas in the future when you master how to do a brainstorming session and collect all your ideas in a place where you can access them in the future.

I'll tell you the secrets to set yourself up for success so you generate the most ideas during your designated time. It's important to plan this time with certain strategies in mind so you're not heading down rabbit holes that are not productive paths.

Additionally, ideas are lost too often because content creators have no one set place to put their ideas. Start with a designated content container and always put your content ideas into that one place. This way, you'll always have plenty of accessible sparks and ideas for coming up with magnetic new content for your audience whenever you want.

Tune in to this episode to learn how to produce an endless content stream for your business.

Don’t Miss Inside This Episode:

  • How to set up your brainstorming sessions so you'll be able to create the most ideas for your future content.
  • Discover how to remember the most important ways to set up for content idea success using the acronym, CONTENT.
  • One surprising place to mine for content creation ideas that will guarantee your audience will love what you write about. HINT-they've already shown you what they like there.
  • How to use Amazon to spark ideas for coaching groups and digital products.

Links and products mentioned in today's episode:

If you liked these tips for content creation, head over to ShesGotContent.com/content and get your ToolKit/Workbook to "Never Run Out of Content Ideas."

About Your Host

Melissa Brown, MD - Coach, Author, Speaker, Teacher, and Podcast Host.

After leaving medical practice in 2009, Melissa discovered the online world and never looked back! After coach certification, she began a healthy lifestyle coaching practice online and quickly fell in love with blogging, writing, and content marketing.

Melissa believes that coaches have the power to change the world. Unfortunately, too many coaches get discouraged by the amount of content they need to create for marketing their business and this can lead to overwhelm and giving up on their dreams. There's such a ripple effect when a dream dies, so Melissa is on a mission to help coaches and solopreneurs overcome the overwhelm when it comes to content creation so they keep those dreams alive.

Your content can impact massive amounts of people and positively change the world. You've got content in there inside you; let's get it out into the world.

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Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to this podcast. It means the world to me to have you here on this journey! If you got value from this episode, please share it on social media, and recommend it to your business besties.

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Transcripts

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Below their content creators, You're listening to the She's got

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content podcast. It's all about creating content for

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your coaching business. I'm your host, Doctor Melissa

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Brown, and I'm here every week to help you get your content

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out of your head, out of your heart, and out there into the world

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Where that information and your services can impact the

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most people. Get ready to take notes today and

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then take action content creators. Let's dive in with

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today's episode because you've got content to get out

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there. Hey there, and welcome back to another episode of the

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She's got content podcast. I'm your host, Melissa Brown,

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and I'm here every week with another less for getting that content out of

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your head, out of your heart, and out there into the world.

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Today, we're gonna talk about how to do a brainstorming

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session to come up with all kinds of ideas for your content.

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Now you might be asking, why do a brainstorming session?

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Well, you'll never again have the experience of looking at that

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blank computer screen, and wondering what you're gonna write about for your next

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blog post or podcast episode once you've come up with

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all these ideas. You'll always have ideas for writing

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emails, and it can even help you come up with your next

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digital product or a workshop idea, or maybe even an e

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book topic. You'll never run out of ideas to write about when you

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sit down and you plan out doing a content

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brainstorming session. And the good news is you can always do

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another one. And another, there's no limit to how many

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ideas you might come up with to create that content for your

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audience when you learn how to do this. So let's just go ahead and

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dive into it. The first thing you need to do to have

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your content brainstorming session is to commit

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to doing it. That means put a date on your calendar block

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off a minimum of 1 hour or better yet maybe 2 hours

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for a particular day. You can create a lot of

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content ideas with that focused and non distracted

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chunk of time where you're not being interrupted,

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distracted by all the little things that can happen when you

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think ahead of time to block that time off.

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So this is really important to plan for this time, so you're not getting

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distracted or interrupted. Because that's gonna break that

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creative connection with your brain, and it won't be as effective

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as if you really have that concentrated amount of time where you

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can focus on what you're doing. The other reason for putting a date

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on your calendar is that if you don't plan for

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doing it. Then it's either not gonna happen at all,

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or, again, you'll be distracted by something else, and something else will

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be more important Or you'll give up your

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priority for doing the content brainstorming session.

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Distractions are things like children or dogs or other

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pets that might be looking for attention or phones or anything

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that rings or dings. You wanna make sure that you've got those

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phones turned off, or at least silence them so that you're not

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distracted by an auditory ding ding

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ring. You might also wanna make sure your computer notifications

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are on the silence. There's also different apps or

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sites you can use on the computer where you're not gonna be disrupted by those

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notifications that will distract you. If you've got

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kids, make plans for the kids. You don't wanna be interrupted

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when you're doing your brainstorming session because they're having a

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fight or they need a snack, or they

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need a board and break. And you also don't wanna be interrupted by

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the dog who needs a bio break and needs to go outside. So

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if you have a pet that needs to go out, make sure that's been done

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before you sit down to do your session.

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And if you don't make every effort, to turn off the distractions

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and potential disruptions before you get started.

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You might find that your designated time to do your session is

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gone before you accomplish what you wanna get done.

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It might even be gone before you get started. Within your brainstorming

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time, you'll wanna set a timer. for some tasks that you'll do

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because it's really easy to go down some rabbit holes, and then you'll lose your

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focus. And then, again, you're designated

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time for doing this brainstorming session is

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just eaten up by exploring things on that proverbial

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rabbit hole. You don't want your planning time to be

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poof, gone. So commit to a time

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and plan for that time. You also

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wanna set up your environment to best tap into your

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creativity. Maybe you like to listen to music

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or perhaps you prefer to have an app playing the sound of rain

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or ocean or meditation music. because that

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may help you tap into your creative side more easily.

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I prefer quiet and just silence. to tap

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into my creative side. Some people find they like

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having a candle burning or maybe even some incense. If

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you're at a desk, It's best to remove all the

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clutter, all those distracting papers so you're not

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tempted by them whether to read them file them

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or somehow deal with them. So clear off your desk.

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One of the things I like to do is leave a notepad or a sheet

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of paper on the desk, though. That way, if something else

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invades my thought processes and reminds me, oh my gosh. I

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forgot to do this. I forgot to do that. Gotta remember to

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buy milk or eggs at the grocery store or any number of things

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that threaten to disrupt your time. You can write those

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things down on the notepad. Just don't jump in and try and

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do that thing right away. As soon as that brainstorming

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session is over, that's when you can do it. Just write it on

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that piece of paper or notepad. and let it go and get

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back to the task you're working on. And that's the first thing you're gonna

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look at when you're finished with your brainstorming session. So you can take care of

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those things later. So you've got the time set

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aside. You've planned for potential distractions and interruptions.

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You've set up the environment for stimulating your creative

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process. However, that looks for you. What's

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next? you need to come up with some type of a container,

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some place where you'll put all of your ideas.

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either copy and paste them in this place or write

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them in. So decide on that container

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where your content ideas will be stored.

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That could be a Trello board. I myself use Trello.

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It might be a a Word document or a Google Sheet.

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You could also use Dropbox or Evernote just someplace where you

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put all of your ideas. That is preferable

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to writing out your ideas on sticky notes or scrap papers

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that tend to get lost. You're investing your time here

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on this brainstorming session, and you wanna capture those ideas in

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some kind of a container so you'll always have them at the ready in the

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future. So you've decided on where you're gonna put

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those ideas. Now you're ready to start. One of

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the best ways to get started is to just do a brain

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dump. So set a timer for 10 minutes

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Remember, we don't wanna go down any rabbit holes. So set that timer for

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10 minutes and then just write down

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everything or type it into a a trello board

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wherever you want to put it. Whatever is that container, get

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everything out of your brain, a brain dump, of everything that you

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think you like to write about. What does your ideal

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clients struggle with? What are their challenges? What do

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they wanna achieve? What results do they wanna get?

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Write down all those results, topics,

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subtopics, all the things clients have asked for in the past

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that you thought might be a good idea, just everything that comes to

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mind. What would help your ideal client

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move from pain island to pleasure island?

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Now I need to say this. This is a no judgment

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zone. Don't filter or judge at this stage. Just

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write down or type up -- all the ideas that come to

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you. Put those into your container. You can deal with

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it later. There are no dumb ideas at this point. Whenever

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you think of something, write it down. Don't be judgmental.

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It's not a good idea. It's not a bad idea. It's just an

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idea. Your brainstorming everything right now. Put

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down anything that comes into your mind. No matter how likely you

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are to do it, to write about it, or use that as

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content or how unlikely you are. No judgment.

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It's just about getting everything down.

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And I wanna make a point here that your goal

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here is to create different topics or even titles

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if it comes to you for content. But remember, you're not married to

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these topics. You're not married to those titles. This

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is completely changeable. This is a starting spark.

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So eventually, you may change those. You might come up with a

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completely different title, and maybe there are topics you'll write

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down that you don't ever write about. But this is

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just to remind you for the next time when you're planning out your content for

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the month or the quarter. These ideas that you

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put down will spark whatever you decide to

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write about or, like I said before, It

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could be a product or a course for sale.

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This is just gonna get you going. Eventually, you'll come up with a different

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title, most likely. but you just wanna get

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all the ideas as it comes to you in this creative session.

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Okay. Now after your 10 minutes of brain dumping,

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move on to a different task. You could Next,

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do a Google search for keywords or topics. And, again, you

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wanna set a timer. This time,

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put a little more time on the clock, 15 to 30

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minutes. One of the things that I find happens especially

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with some of these tasks in a Google research is

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that if I don't set a timer and I know I'm not alone, I

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can get sucked down a rabbit hole of research, and the

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research is not necessarily research. It could be cat

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videos or dog videos or pet videos of any kind,

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or clickbait type headlines that make me completely forget what

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I'm doing. And then I start reading articles that have nothing to do with

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the task at hand. So your timer will remind

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you. If you hear it or you see it on your desk ticking

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away, it helps remind you that you only have a certain

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amount of time to do this research. It's gonna help keep you focused.

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So set that timer for each of these different sections of your

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brainstorming. So this one, For the Google search, you're

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going to do between 15:30 minutes.

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Now during that Google research,

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Be sure to check out the section called, people also

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ask, and at the bottom of your Google search, there

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is a see more section. Those areas will give

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you even more ideas for topics or even titles.

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So you've done a brain dump, you've done a Google search, and

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the 3rd place to use to come up with some ideas in your

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brainstorming session, is your past content.

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Now put about 30 minutes on the timer for this section.

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And that could be less if you don't have a lot of content out there,

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but if you've been writing blogs or you have a podcast or

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YouTube channel, you wanna go over all of that

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past content and determine which articles

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or podcast episodes or videos have resonated

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most with your readers. You could use Google Analytics

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to see which ones have been the most popular or go by the

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comments that have been posted. Read through those comments

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and see what was said about that topic. You can write

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more content about those particular topics

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or you can also refresh and repurpose that material to

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create something new. So add those

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popular posts to your idea of brainstorming list

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and mark them for repurposing, refreshing,

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or writing new material. Now

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your 4th place to head would be to Amazon.

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Yes. Amazon. You wanna spend about 30 minutes

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looking up book titles in your niche.

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Use the look inside tool to study the table of

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contents for ideas you can use for content starters.

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but it's also great to use that for titles of

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future blog posts or even coaching programs. You're using

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the content inside that look inside tool for

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sparks. Remember, you're not stealing material that's in there.

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You're just using that as a starting place, a

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place to think of creative ideas that your audience

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would be interested in. And there you have it.

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How to do brainstorming sessions for content ideas, so you'll

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never run out of content ideas in the future. One of the ways

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that I like to help people remember, those particular points is through an

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acronym, and believe it or not, that acronym word

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is content. Let me go through that with you. I'll

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recap and remind you as we go through this acronym.

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So starting with co, the c o of content.

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It stands for commit to a time. And,

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also, it helps you to remember you need to capture all of your

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ideas into some kind of container. So

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CO is for commit to a time and a container

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for all of your ideas. And the n in

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content stands for no distractions. So make sure that

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all of the things that could potentially distract you,

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make sure you've got those removed. The next letter is

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t. That is for timer. Make sure that you set a timer

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for the different sections where you're gonna be doing your brainstorming

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ideas. Using that timer helps you keep focused,

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and it prevents you from going down rabbit holes, burning up all

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that time you set aside for your brainstorming session. e

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is the next letter. It's for the environment. Set the mood.

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Set the ambiance for your brainstorming session, whether that's with the use

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some soft music or meditation, some chimes in the

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background, or use some essential oil

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to diffuse or maybe some incense. You wanna clear

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that clutter off your desktop and add a

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notebook or a piece of paper. So you can write down anything

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that crops up that you wanna remember to take care of after you're

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done. things that have nothing to do with your content ideas.

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Write that down, and then just let it go. Now

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second, letter n in content.

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And that stands for, there are no dumb ideas.

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Write them all down. There'll be no judging at this point.

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No judgment, no dumb ideas. And the

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last t is for topics. You're looking for topics.

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Titles. Write everything down. Eventually, you're gonna sort through

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all of that. So that's the acronym

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content and how to go about creating a content

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brainstorming session to generate a large volume of

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content ideas. Okay. So

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there you have it. How to do a content

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brainstorming session never run out of content ideas.

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I hope you got a few golden nuggets from today's episode.

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I'll be back next week with another episode of the She's got

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content podcast. In the meantime, make sure that

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you're getting your content out of your head, out of your heart,

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and out there into the world where people are waiting to

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learn from you. Have a great week.

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Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the She's got content

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podcast. I hope you got at least one nugget to take action on this

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week. If you got value from today's episode, I would be

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so grateful when you leave a 5 star rating wherever you listen to

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podcast. It only takes a second, and it really helps me get my message out

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to impact even more people so they can in turn keep the ripple

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going. If you're listening on Apple Podcast, and leave a

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review of the show. It would really make my day, and you just might

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receive a shout out on the show with my content creator of the week when

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I read out your review. And last but never least, if you want

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an endless supply of just right ideas for content you can write

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about for your blog post, your emails, your videos,

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podcast episodes, all the content things, then you wanna head over

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to my website at she's got content dot com forward

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slash content, and pick up your free workbook. Never run out of

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content ideas. Look for that link in the show notes today

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along with the other links mentioned in today's episode.

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Until next time content creators, you've got an audience waiting to hear from you,

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and you've got content to share with them. Stop being the best kept

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secret and make a bigger impact when you've got

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