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I've been sitting on this idea to teach a keyword research workshop for waaaaayyy too long. Like “How long have those leftovers been in the fridge? I think they're becoming sentient” too long.
So I decided yesterday to kick myself in gear by challenging myself to create the whole thing in 3 days, starting today.
I'm modeling this after the challenges that Matt Giovanisci gives himself over on MoneyLab.co.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT:
I'll be tracking the whole creation process over the next few days LIVE in this post, so feel free to check back here to see how things are going!
Here's the thing: I have an issue with Yoast.
It's a fantastic tool, don't get me wrong, and I use it on every site that I manage.
But it's not the be-all-end-all ultimate solution to end all SEO problems ever. Which is how I've seen it hyped so so much across the web.
To me, that's like saying “This hammer is the best hammer ever, it's the last house-building tool you'll ever need!”
Just like with any tool, you need to know how to use it properly for it to really do anything.
You might have a hammer, but if you don't know anything about construction or how to use it, you could put a hole in your wall rather than successfully hanging something up or building a house.
Or baking! You might have all the ingredients you need to make a cake, but you can't just throw it all in a bowl and stick it in the oven and cross your fingers. You have to measure the ingredients, add them in the proper order, prep it all in the right cake pan, and bake it at the right temperature for the right amount of time.
(That metaphor worked better, I clearly know more about baking than building things with hammers…)
So my solution is the Quick & Dirty Keyword Research Workshop! A 1-2 hour workshop to help you find first-class focus words to plug into Yoast that will bring real traffic from Google.
If you're thinking “Holy shit that sounds amaze-balls, I need this thing in my life!”, well awesome! This course is now live! Check it out here.
I'm not starting from 100% scratch, thankfully. I've been sitting on this idea for a while, and joining Regina's Create Your Starter Course course helped give me structure and get my butt in gear. (I just needed to get in in an even more intense gear to power through!)
What I already have:
Section 1:
Day One To-Do's:
Well… I forgot to take my meds in the morning so I was super sleepy all day and didn't figure out why until 3:30pm… so it wasn't a super productive afternoon after my networking meeting.
So I took my meds and took a nap, and then woke up and got sucked into Instagram for an hour… because reasons.
But then I was super duper productive for an hour before I had to go to host trivia!
I did a deep outline of the whole workshop/course (except for the last section), each lesson, and all the points I want to make sure I hit.
The idea is to use this instead of a script, because I think it'll feel and sound more natural if I'm riffing (in a guided way).
So I rushed off to my trivia hosting gig, and hung out with my friends there for a bit after.
I also ended up having an ad hoc meeting/brainstorming session with my business partner for another project (an IRL events business for nerds), and didn't sit back down to my desk til midnight.
But of course I was on such a roll that I stayed at my desk til 2 continuing to add to the outline!
And then I couldn't sleep til 4… *shrug*. You win some you lose some. I've always been a night owl so I'm really not surprised.
Wednesdays are my dedicated Introvert Day. I block it off in all my schedulers and don't let anyone book me for anything (even social stuff). So I've got lots of room to crack down and start filming!
Well, Day 2 did not go as planned in the slightest.
Original plan:
Guess how much of that got done?
None. Nada. Zilch.
Okay, reeling in the self-directed disdain.
I'm really salty at myself, but I'm also trying to re-frame my mental attitude about it into something more self-compassionate and productive.
I've talked on my Instagram about my anxiety and mental health fairly transparently. Last week was a very low week (like on a 1-10 Dial, it was a Dial 1 week). And as I started out of the depressive swing, I definitely got carried away in trying to kick my butt in gear.
What I did achieve yesterday:
All in all, considering self-care and mental health, I'm pretty proud of what I accomplished yesterday. Instagram probably wasn't as re-charging as I needed on Introvert Day, but it was at least semi-productive. And I forced myself to take care of myself and make a big batch of healthy food. And I emailed my list.
Self Care? Check.
Still accomplished something productive for my business? Check.
Did all the things for the 3-day challenge? No. But I did my best, and I took care of myself, and that's enough, and is worthy of celebration.
The challenge is still on and will still be tracked here, so tune in tomorrow to see how I did today (Thursday), and over the next few days as well for more updates.
On Thursday I took things gently. After a quiet morning, I had my therapy appointment, which helped a lot with my depression (and helped me realize it was depression, not anxiety).
After that, things were gently productive on the workshop. I worked on the deep outline, built out the protected WordPress pages, and ate food.
In the evening I went to another meeting for the other project, which went well. Then I spent some time with friends and was honest with them about my depression.
(Pro tip: it’s hard to come forward to your friends about depression, but it helps a loooot)
So the workshop obviously did not get finished in three days, but the challenge itself was instrumental in helping motivate me to sit down and make it happen!
Friday was wonderfully social AND social! One of my favorite biz besties, Megan Dowd, and I met each other in Dayton (the city that’s right in the middle of where we both live) for a co-working play date!
In addition to catching up on business and life, I finalized the outline and started moving some of the text material over to the course pages and polishing it up.
There’s something super motivating about having another person sitting with you being productive that’s super motivating and energizing.
Saturday mostly consisted of filling the course pages with material.
While I’d originally intended the course to be primarily talking head videos and screen share videos, for the sake of energy management I decided to populate this first version of it with text.
The outline was deep enough that a lot of it could be copy-pasted right over, with a little polishing and formatting, and be ready to go.
Once the material was filled in, I was able to see where the gaps were that would benefit from videos, worksheets, or additional material.
So I made a list of the extra assets that were needed, and started looking through other content and products for material I’ve already created.
From there, I started inserting placeholders in the course pages for the extra material, in order to address the next day.
This was by far the best and most productive day I’ve had in a million years.
After make the most efficient errand rum ever to the grocery store and hardware store (to paint my dining room!), I went to my favorite local coffee shop to do some work and attend an advanced workshop with Regina and Allie.
Then I went home in the early afternoon, started painting the dining room while listening to Critical Role, and listened to more workshop while multi-tasking on content brainstorming.
I also solidified my pricing and release plan for this puppy.
It will start with a beta price on this MVP version, and add videos, collateral, and other advanced support as I receive feedback. Then I’ll do a larger launch with an early bird price, and then bump it up again to its full evergreen price. Bada boom bada bing!
The rest of the evening was filming, editing, and uploading talking head intro videos for each lesson.
Filming the intro videos was totally improv-ed and super simple. For the sake of expediency, I skipped making any slides or intro graphics and just went with the the video as is.
Then I had my regular Sunday Dungeons & Dragons session and called it a day! (With more wall painting and Critical Role after the session).
Hello Monday! The morning was all about adding the last bits of information to finish off the material for the MVP version of the course!
This consisted of an important screen share tutorial video about how to assess what SEO juice your site is capable of right now, and the section about the different tools options needed for keyword research.
I decided to do a text version of the tools instead of a video presentation. Awesomely, I was able to leverage content I’d already created from a keyword research guidebook I created a couple years ago and never published! Yay for recycling!
And with that, the Killer Keyword Research Mini-Course (and this live challenge) is donezo!
By no means is the course perfect, but as I always like to say: “Done is better than perfect.”
Plus, this way I’ll be able to update the course and add material based on feedback to teach in a way that works best for students, rather than whatever concepts come out of my brain.
While I wasn’t able to stick to the self imposed 3 day timeline, which was fine, I learned some stuff about what motivates me (hello, live public tracking of the creation process), as well as lessons in adapting my projects and work load to self care and mental health needs.
For example, with where my head was at, I really didn’t feel up to figuring out how to plan, create, and edit video lessons. So I made most of it text based, because that’s what I felt capable of.
First Lesson Learned:
Meet yourself where you’re at.
I also learned it’s much easier for me to focus entirely on one big work project at a time, with a creative personal project on the side. I also learned I don’t do well just holed up in my apartment making shit all day every day.
Getting out of the house and regularly socializing with real humans who feel like sunshine is important for my day-to-day energy stamina.
Second Lesson Learned:
Don’t be a myopic hermit.
Also don’t try to spin too many work plates.
So here we are, my friend, with some new mental health strategies and a whole super awesome workshop ready for beta students and a marketing plan!
I think more of us at-homers struggle with this than we let on, and it’s important to share and bolster each other and be kind to ourselves in the process.
What strategies do you use to manage your mental health while running your online business? Let me know in the comments or (if you’d rather be private about it) shoot me an email. Let’s normalize this shit 🙂
If you're thinking “Holy shit that sounds amaze-balls, I need this thing in my life!” Awesome! This course is now live! Check it out here.