There. I said it.
Don’t get me wrong. Marie is an amazing business woman and coach. Yet it seems to me that there’s an army of mini Maries coaching another army of tiny Maries. So many carbon copies writing the same post in the same format with the same pictures over and over. All trying to reach their ideal reader every week. I’m tired of reading about makeup, pedicures, quinoa & kale salads, greek yogurt smoothies with a bunch of over-priced ingredients and Anthropology shopping sprees. I don’t care about these trivial things. Nor do I care if they spend $375 USD for a hemp hat. You know where that’s going once summer is over: goodwill or the trash. Yes, I do protect myself from the sun, I have a cheap hat for that. I eat healthy as much as the next girl, but…how many posts about Chia-Berry pudding with luscious coconut milk do I need? Do you need? What’s more to learn?
I’m aware of the guidelines I have to follow to write that “perfect” blog post that’ll suck you in and persuade you to buy my stuff. The advice is always the same: write great copy for your blog, take amazing pictures for social media. And don’t you dare forget the newsletter, but please, DON’T call it a newsletter… you’ll scare people away.
But, does anyone read a blog or a newsletter these days?
Be honest. With our attention spans getting shorter than that of a goldfish, who has the time to look at email. It seems to me that everyone everywhere is yelling Look at me! Look at me! like Donkey in Shrek. Everyone looks, but do you take the time to observe? To listen? To understand? In our supercharged world, I’m glad if someone reads the captions on my Instagram feed.
This fear of missing out is getting on my nerves. You’re supposed to be everywhere. On Facebook. Twitter. Pinterest. Instagram. YouTube. Doing live video, doing stories, getting your bloody resumé on LinkedIn, and so on. Excuse my French, I don’t give a fuck about Facebook. Now with their privacy scandal, I wish I could leave it for good.
But… and there’s always a but. My local customers find me there. For me, it’s the only way to find out about the latest craft fair. Quitting is out of the question, even when I don’t update my FB Page unless I have something meaningful to share. Creating an ad campaign on FB to reach potential people is also very time-consuming and once it has run its course, you’re never really sure WHO saw your campaign, only that 456 people clicked on it and you gained 1 follower (gee, thanks Zuck!). That’s not very reassuring and it’s a waste of my hard-earned money.
Don’t get me started on Instagram. As much as I love looking at stories, there’s way too many I swipe to the left. I don’t want to spend my day looking at a screen when I could be enjoying a day outside watching hummingbirds. Stories are the only way to keep your feed relevant on IG after their weekly algorithm and timeline changes. So, we become slaves to creating and consuming content to get our dopamine fix.
It seems to me, that our mission is to force-feed you anything, no matter how often we have written about it. We need to attract our people, get clicks but stopped caring about how relevant our content is, hence the repetitive posts you find over and over on Pinterest.
My struggle is…
…coming up with content you’d want to read. I don’t want you to get an icky feeling that I’m trying to sell you something. There’s nothing magical about creating the mugs I make. I go to my supplier who sells me the mugs. I then create the design on my obsolete Mac (it’s a 2009, FFS!), send it to the printer and transfer it to the mug. Pretty simple. The design might make you feel special or happy while you enjoy your morning coffee or tea, but that’s pretty much it.
So, what am I supposed to write about that’ll keep you interested? I don’t know. I’m still trying to find my way in this online entrepreneur world and I haven’t found my place. I don’t fit in with the tiny Marie armies with their lattes and green teas.
As Thom Yorke once sang: I’m a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here?
I ask myself the same thing every day.
I mean, is there someone out there who also embroiders cute cats and kicks dummies in Krav Maga? Who meditates and eats a burger now and then without feeling guilty about it? Sews and watches soccer? Knits to relax and wouldn’t mind a trip to Dracula’s castle? Swears like a sailor without remorse (you, btw, are more intelligent)? Who doesn’t fit in?
I don’t want to only write about the stuff I make. I want to do something meaningful through my business and leave the world a better place once it’s my turn to leave. Will I find my way? I hope so. It may not happen today, tomorrow or next week. Heck, it may not happen in six months either, but if you stay for the ride, you’ll be on an unforgettable journey with me.
So, are you a weirdo? I’d like to hear from you in the comments.
Stay weird!
