Tag: Creativity

Today marks the first day…

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Is a very powerful set of 5 words.

But it shows us that we can challenge the status quo.

We can start to make change. 

And we can do something that matters to us.

Today marks the first day of Habit Factory’s 21 Day Content Club workshop. 

I’m grateful to Daniel Furfaro for asking a set of brilliant questions that led to this path. 

And I’m also grateful to all my friends on LinkedIn who took a leap of faith to join this workshop with me. 

I hope you’ll experience as much growth and learning as I will running this workshop for the first time.

What does climbing a mountain have anything to do with social media?

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Earlier this week, I climbed the first peak of the Stawamus Chief in Squamish.

We got to the top sweating, panting, and legs completely sore from the ascent.

I sat  on the rock to catch my breath.

What happens next comes straight out of a fairy tale.

A man with long brown hair comes dashing through 15km/h to the top. Dressed in shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers as if he gracefully galloped up the entire 1.5 hour climb without a sweat.

He disappeared just as fast as he arrived.

He was a regular. 

What does this have anything to do with social media? 

It’s a practice. 

If you want to build an engaged community and grow your brand, you have to put in the work for it to be successful.

It can take months or years. 

Either way, nobody starts off dashing up the mountains at 15 km/h in shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers so gracefully without putting in the work.

3 years ago, I wanted to help my parents build their restaurant business

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So I created an Instagram account, and started posting something every day. 

2900+ posts later, we get multiple customers from Instagram on a daily basis (and it still works). 

The key takeaway is this: if you want to build your brand online, start by posting something every day. 

It’ll be slow to start, but so worth it. 

If you want to create content that performs, here’s the secret

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Take a look at your posts up to 2 months ago, and see which got the most shares/comments/likes. 

If those select posts are constructive for your brand, do more of it. 

If it resonated with your specific audience, do more of it. 

That’s all.

Want to 10x your Content Writing Game?

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Here are 2 books to help you understand what you can do to improve:

1. A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters: A Resource for Writing Headlines and Building Creative Confidence by Dan Nelken.

A practical read with exercises, examples, sprinkled with personal experience. 

  1. Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks.
  2. Learn how to craft your words in a way that makes people lean in. 

However, reading books will only get you so far.

The real key to 10xing your content writing is to practice your writing and get feedback on it. 

Our team at the Habit Factory is launching a 21 day Content Club this month.

Check it out and sign up for the list here

How I started my blog

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Writing was always an interest of mine.

I’ll never forget the time I wrote a 20 page story for my 8th grade teacher when she only asked for 1.

To be fair, I was already 12 pages in when I realized there was a page limit. Might as well go all out right?

Fast forward a few years later, I found myself writing as a means of self growth and reflection.

Eventually I posted some of these onto Instagram, which didn’t do too well because Instagram isn’t necessarily a text-based platform.

Still, I needed a place to put my words so I bought a domain and published my daily posts on WordPress. 

However, the downside of WordPress is that it isn’t an awareness tool. If you want more attention for your stuff, you have to go to where the people are. 

That’s where social media comes in.

Fortunately for me, LinkedIn is a flexible professional platform that allows long+short text posts, photos, and videos on the feed. 

Now I publish all my posts onto LinkedIn (+ more).

I treat it as part of my blog, and I get to talk and meet with some cool people.

Frequency helps with improvement

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The other day I found myself making jelly for the first time with agar agar. 

The results were a little different from what I expected. 

It was too soft for a jelly, and broke down into tiny pieces that made up a jelly-like slush.

Eventually I found out that I didn’t add enough agar agar. 

But the point of this post isn’t about jelly desserts.

Instead, it’s this.

The trick with frequency is that the more times you try something, the better you’ll get at recognizing patterns.

You’ll learn to see what works, and what doesn’t. 

Alternatively, whatever you don’t try you’ll never learn from.

Something about me is that I used to be a fashion illustrator

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I’d draw late into the night and dream about dresses all day.

Suddenly, my life changed.

No longer was I able to draw pretty girls in pretty dresses.

Instead, I now serve Hong Kong fast food to people in my city.

When I get off work, I pour the rest of my energy into helping creators understand how they can use social media for their business.

You’re allowed to change and explore your interests and passions.