It seems I’ve been having a lot of these moments lately.

If you haven’t seen Jerry Maguire, it came out in 1996. Long story short, Jerry Maguire is a successful sports agent who has his own “Come-to-Jesus” moment, writes a manifesto, distributes it to the agency he works for, and all hell breaks loose in his life.

Ideally, these moments don’t cause everything in our lives to unfold.

But they’re pivotal moments.

Turning points, if you will.

The first moment I had that was really more of a “Come-to-Jesus” moment was when I decided to focus my business on serving women.

I’ve wanted to do this for a long time but haven’t really had the courage.

Until now.

Before I get into this recent epiphany (that’s a hell of a lot shorter than writing out “My Jerry Maguire, Come-to-Jesus Moment”), I know exactly what has contributed to arriving here.

Focus.

Without a doubt, the focus I’ve applied over the last four months has created space for me to get clearer on what I truly want.

What I want my life to look like, the work I want to do, and who I want to do it with.

Choosing to focus on serving women felt like a huge fork in the road for me. I have a lot of men on my list and in my audience, and I was incredibly nervous that I would be cutting my audience in half.

Here’s the kicker, though… even though men have purchased my products, most of my customers are women.

This is also why I’m investing in paid traffic.

I’ll always do organic content (which is where my Jerry Maguire moment came from), but being able to target exactly who I want to target?

That’s gold.

OK, let’s get into my “Jerry Maguire, Come-to-Jesus Moment.”

I love the phrase, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

The beauty of this is that the teacher doesn’t necessarily have to appear as a person. It can be an article, a video, or a specific message you start to see repeatedly.

I subscribe to a lot of email lists, and YouTube channels and read a lot of articles in the digital marketing space, and it’s easy to pick up on trends.

Sometimes, I get an inkling of a shift happening, and other times, it takes a little longer.

The first inkling I had of a shift happening was from the YouTuber creator Jessica Stansberry. She has a YouTube channel called “Hey Jessica!” and decided to launch a second channel just under her name.

She’s been online for about 12 years (I think) and started out doing a ton of “how-to” videos. Months before she decided to launch her second channel, she did a video where she was telling viewers to STOP doing so much how-to or creating content based on keywords.

(This is where she hooked me; I hate creating content based on keywords or doing anything based on keyword research).

Then, she launched her new channel because she wanted a place to do different content. Lifestyle, vlogging, and sharing her journey. That channel has almost 2k subscribers in less than a few months (and yes, she has her previous channel and existing audience where she can promote the new channel, but it wouldn’t be growing if there wasn’t valuable content).

Then I saw this FB post from Adam Linkenauger.

It’s a long post, so I’ve copied and pasted it here, along with the image he included showing he knows a thing or two about YouTube:

Post:

“YouTube isn’t about keywords or SEO.

Forget that crap.

I could care less about the “search engine”, as ranking for keywords is small potatoes on the platform today.

The first step is JOINTLY pleasing your subscriber base AND the algorithm.

Understanding the traffic sources and the depth of strategy that comes with increasing clicks and keeping viewers watching longer.

Where viewers come from drastically can change your thumbnail strategy, your headline strategy, and the content strategy depending on whether search, browse or suggested is your main feeder.

Think of it much like how, in advertising, you’d market to someone who isn’t solution-aware and doesn’t know about the cure to the problem they have…

Versus someone who KNOWS there’s a solution and actively is searching for that specific cure.

OR the engagement of someone who is at the mall and walks by a window sees a piece of clothing they want, and goes in to look at it…

Versus someone who visited your website, called the store to verify the clothing was in stock, and then drove down to the store.

The examples get farther and wider when it comes to engagement levels/interests/knowledge and more across social media.

And how you better learn your CORE subscriber base and “feeder system” of views will allow you to far more easily generate traffic, subscribers, leads, and sales.

So here’s what I’d recommend:

Stop worrying about keywords and ranking.

Sure, you can rank for keywords and get good traffic, but that should be SECONDARY in your stragey.

Here’s why:

You’re competing for 1-2 spots across a dozen keywords that control 80% of all search traffic. (top of ranking gets the clicks)

That’s like fishing in a lake with 1000 fishermen all trying to catch the same 12 fish.

Instead, why not go to the OCEAN that’s JAM-PACKED with 1000s of fish but less than 12 fishermen?

A sea of HUNGRY, STARVING, ready to bite fish that haven’t seen a meal in weeks.

This is the opportunity when you change the inferior and “old strategy” of “SEO” I was teaching a decade ago for WINNING strategies that aren’t being taught yet.

If you want to build a YT channel.

There’s never been a better time.

If you want us to build your channel for you.

There’s an opportunity for that as well.

But if this post caught your attention.

Then the next few sentences should PUMP YOU UP!

I’m thinking about doing my first training program in 7-8 years on YouTube.

The entire foundation of the platform has changed dramatically over the last few years,

… and there’s never been a more necessary time to teach what we’ve learned via testing across a ton of channels and our direct conversations with YouTube.

A program unlike any other that has built multiple industry-leading YouTube Channels (and 7+ figure businesses) and is incorporating AI, unbreakable and battle-tested systems, and SOPs, an organic lead siphoning system that’s generated over 2 million leads for my businesses alone.

… in an easy-to-manage to manage system that works for a solopreneur up to 8-9 figure businesses successfully.

Not only will we cover YT Shorts, Long-form videos, content creation, lead generation, team building, analytics, and all of that “fun” (in a system that all works in UNISON to build your channel and scale your business)

BUT our “Video Launch Formula” that adds 30-200% more leads/sales to your product launch than your internal list produces will be taught for the first at scale ever.

And so much more.

If interest is there, we’ll put a beta group together.

Personally, I think the strategies we’re testing with YT shorts, bridging long-form subscriber/lead generation, and generating traffic, leads, and sales are some of the best.

But I only want to do this if there’s enough interest.

Interested in hearing more?

If so, I can follow up and start creating the program soon!”

He received 53 comments from people saying they were interested.

My point in sharing both of these YouTube creators’ stories isn’t about needing to be on YouTube.

It’s about creating content that connects with human beings.

This is what #EverythingIsContent was all about when I first came up with the hashtag (that people now use on social… and I’m going to go ahead and take credit for it because I started using that probably seven years ago?).

My primary goal with my content is that people feel better for having engaged with it. This is what I call my ‘core content value.’

I want people to:

• learn something
• connect at a deep level
• or be entertained

That is always my intention when it comes to the content I create.

Let’s look at “creating” from a completely different perspective.

I know I’m dating myself here, but I want you to think back to “creating” pre-internet.

Think back to all the people who have created art (any type of art), put themselves out there, and succeeded before there were algorithms, masterclasses, checklists, and keywords.

They simply created.

There may have been formal education that helped shape an interest, but most people who felt compelled to create did so because there was something inside of them that called them to make their art.

Take the “classics.”

Think Shakespeare did anything to “research” what his audience wanted? Or did he write because he had to? There was something in him that pulled him to write.

Look at how many female authors had to write under male pseudonyms because publishers wouldn’t publish books written by women.

Obviously, as time progresses, we learn new skills, so there are opportunities for more people to have access to learning how to create.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t invest our time and energy into learning (I’m very interested to see what Adam Linkenauger offers when he does launch something); why wouldn’t we?

It’s never been easier to learn something new.

We should take advantage of these opportunities – whether they’re free or paid (if you have the discipline, start with free and move on to paid).

All that being said…

More often than not, because we have access to all this information and people to model, we try too hard to “get it right” instead of creating from a deeper place.

Before the internet, people figured it out.

Understanding fundamentals and strategies is one thing. The idea of “modeling,” however, gets in people’s way.

For example:

Let’s say you decide you’re going to start writing on Substack.

Instead of understanding the platform’s fundamentals, you start modeling what someone else has created and try to write like them.

You’re studying their headlines, their content, and how they engage with their readers.

You’re writing every day, and three months later, you feel like you have zero traction. You have some subscribers, and people share and comment, but you don’t feel like you’re growing at the rate you should based on how much you’re creating.

Ask yourself: do you sound like YOU, or do you sound like the writer you’re trying to “model?”

I could go on and on with examples like this, but you get my point.

This is why buying templates from writers (think social templates) whose voice sounds nothing like yours will never work.

For months, I subscribed to Justin Welsh’s social templates. Justin has built an incredible business, and I love his work, but I would never write how he writes.

None of it sounds like me.

So, I canceled my subscription.

I own both of his courses (Content OS & Linkedin OS), but I haven’t done much with them. Because instead of trying to take his frameworks and craft a strategy that worked for me, I felt like I had to do it exactly as he did it.

Which, of course, I don’t.

Here’s how I’m using this epiphany moving forward.

This truly has been a light-bulb moment for me. 💡

And my goal is to craft my own version of a “build in public” experiment.

I’m going to create whatever I want to create.

No keywords and no templates.

I’m not going to wait until I’ve bought an in-depth course on how to master anything. I have the skills and knowledge I need to utilize any platform and figure things out as I go.

I’m also not going to waste months creating a plan.

There will be a couple of days dedicated to planning out what this looks like, but that’s it. Then, it’s all about being consistent and doing the work.

And, of course, sharing the journey as I go.

Here’s a rough idea of what this will look like.

• Podcast: As you can tell, the podcast is back on a regular schedule. WOOHOO! I’m having a ton of fun with it. The videos will be going up on YouTube, more consistent sharing and repurposing, and soon enough, I’ll be running ads to promote the podcast.
• Writing: I really do love writing. Even though I’ve been writing online for a long time, this still kind of blows me away. I will stick with learning from Ann Handley (Everybody Writes) and implement what I learn from her.
• Email, newsletters, and Substack: Unsurprisingly, I love email marketing and newsletters. Substack is the new channel in this mix. And I’m excited about seeing what that brings. I’ll share that in public as well.
• Social: As much as I have a love/hate relationship with social media, for now, it’s part of what needs to be done. I’m going to flip this and treat it like an experiment. I’ll think of each platform as a lab, and I’m the mad scientist experimenting with what works.
• Paid traffic: I’m launching both brands’ Facebook and Instagram ads today. For my upcoming workshop (Beyond the Male Model) and for Create It – The Content Planner. I’ll share how that’s going along the way.