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Stop learning. That's my message today. It's currently holding you back and I'm going to tell you why.
I wanted to delve into some of the ways we hide when we don't want to put ourselves out there. In my Mastermind group we were recently talking about some of the different courses people have been taking and things that they're learning to do.
And one person is interested in putting out a master class. They're relaunching their business and they want to get some content out there so they can start to sell to people. It makes a lot of sense. They've already taken classes, gone through webinars, paid for courses online and read books, but they currently haven't created a single piece of content.
This episode from the Makin' Bacon Podcast podcast is available on all your favorite podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, and Google Podcasts.
The video of the interview is also available on the Makin' Bacon YouTube Channel.
Seth Godin talks a lot about the need to ship, the need to create, but a lot of people don't do it. They look at what they've created and decide:
"This isn't good enough yet. I'm going to put a little more work into it. I don't know quite enough about putting this out. I'm going to do a little more research about that."
In a lot of cases, it all comes down to fear. Yeah, you need to know some information about doing it, you can't just wing it. But at some point, you're just learning because it's easier to learn and initially, it's more fun to learn than it is to put yourself out there and start creating.
As a food blogger, I'm sure you've had the experience of working with someone that has zero skills in the kitchen. They don't know how to turn on the stove. They don't know how to boil water. Literally, they can't figure it out.
It's hard to work with someone like that. If they have a baseline of knowledge you can teach them pretty quickly, but you do need some sort of starting point.
I'm sure you also know people who have read all of Thomas Keller's cookbooks and they've read Modernist Cuisine from cover to cover but they've never cooked out of them.
They act like they're experts but they're not, because you can't become a good cook unless you bring out your knife, you turn on the stove and you cook.
Reading about it, watching the Food Network is not going to give you the skills you need to be able to be a good cook. It gives you the knowledge and the information, but you need the actual physical process of cooking. And that, hand in hand with the information and the courses and Food Network and cookbooks, is going to make you a great cook.
But you have to cook. You can't just take the information in by reading about it and then suddenly know how to cook.
The same is true of business. Reading about how to publish a cookbook, reading about how to do YouTube videos, watching courses about how to do Facebook live is all good. And you need that base knowledge - you need to learn how to boil water. But at some point, you need to create your content, you can't just keep learning.
All you're doing is hiding. I hate saying it because I feel like a jerk, but it's the truth. You're scared to put yourself out there because once you start doing it, you can fail.
When you're learning you can't fail because all you're doing is bringing in information.
Put your stuff out there and get it in front of people.
Once you start developing content, you're putting yourself out there, making yourself vulnerable, and opening yourself up to failure. That can be terrifying. But the only way you can become successful is to get out there and do it.
The biggest paradox to me in all of blogging is that people have 2 huge concerns. The first question is "Will my content be good enough?" The second worry is "Will anyone see my content?" You can't be scared of both!
When you're getting started, put out anything you want because no one is reading it. It's true. It can be really demotivating when you're trying to create content. But as far as getting over that fear, it's easy when it's going to be your friends and family reading your blog and that's it. When no one's looking at your courses' sales page, it doesn't matter if it's not perfect because no one's there.
But by the time you put out your second or third or fourth version of a course, people are going to start to be seeing it and it's going to be good. It's going to be much better your first one because you've gone through it before. You've gone through the process multiple times and now you're turning into a professional.
So get some learning in, do some research, take a course if you want to, but then stop learning and start creating. You're going to learn more doing the hands-on creation of content than you ever would with more courses and more reading.
If you want to be successful, that's the next step. Do something new, get it out there, get it in front of people. The more you do, the better your odds of being successful.
If you want more information about the type of content you should be putting out there, check out my How to Make Money from Blogging article. It goes into a lot of the different things you can do to become a successful food blogger. It's a great place to start if you're trying to figure out what direction you want to go as a blogger.
Now get out there and start creating!
How do you approach trying to force yourself to get content out there? Let me know in the Makin Bacon Facebook Group or the comments below.
Hi, I'm Jason Logsdon! I'm an adventurous home cook and the head writer and photographer for Amazing Food Made Easy. I grew my income to 6-figures by focusing on serving my Fans by providing massive value, and I want to help you do the same.
