How to come up with Topics to go Live on!

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Hello, I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and leadership coach, coming to you live on LinkedIn, the Facebook, YouTube, Twitter. Even though I'm not really on Twitter and Instagram. And how I'm doing this, as always, is I'm balancing my phone on my laptop. It's kind of janky, but streamyard, for some reason, doesn't go live to Instagram yet. Hi, Jeff. Welcome. And so we just have to work with what we've got. But anyway, just. Just sharing that with you so that if my phone falls down at any point in this, just know that's a setup. And we're just working with it anyway. Today, I'm so excited for this topic. This topic was actually requested by someone who's been following along in my September live challenge. As you may know, if you've been tuning in, I'm going live every single day in September, and I'm sharing different topics and struggles that entrepreneurs are facing right now and things to help you. So one of the questions that this person reached out with was, how do you come up with topics every single day to go live on? And I'm so glad that they asked this question, because this is one of those things that, as a business owner, as someone who does this all the time, I kind of take for granted. Okay. Like, I just kind of do it and don't think about it, and I forget that's valuable to you. So if you have any questions or anything that you're struggling with in your business that you would like for me to go live on in this month, please message it to me. I'd be more than happy to help and share how I do it, even if I haven't thought of it before. So how do I come up with content ideas for my lives? I broke it down. I thought about this for a little while, and really, there are five different ways that I use to come up with content. Luna's deciding to join me. Good girl. So there are five ways. Number one is research. It is the least sexy of anything. It does require a lot of work. This is something that I have all of my clients go through. And hi, Sean. Welcome. And hi, Lisa. And hi, Mac. Welcome. And Jeff, I already said hi to you. Hello, welcome. Okay, so this is my idea sheet from my research. Okay. And hello, welcome. So all of my clients are experts at what they do. Right. I'm an expert at what I do and what can happen when we go out and we start talking about our service, we talk about our business is we talk about it in our expert speak. Right. So say I'm a lawyer, which I'm not. You do not want me trying any cases. But if I were a lawyer, I'd know all the legal jargon. Right? I. And if I wanted to go out and get clients, I could absolutely go out and start talking about all the legal jargon that I know and all the statutes and all the laws and all the processes that the courts require. Hi, Dawn. Welcome. However, my clients don't understand that. My prospective clients don't understand that jargon. What they understand. Hi, Neil. Welcome. What they understand is the problems that they have in. In their life. So what I would have that lawyer do, and I have a couple lawyer clients. Hi, Felipe. Is I have them go out and interview people who are their ideal client. Because what we're trying to do is speak to our clients in their own language. Right. We want to describe their problems the same way that they do after they've had a couple glasses of wine and they're bitching to their best friend. At the end of the day, we want to talk about their hopes, that. And their dreams in the same way that they whisper to their spouse at the end of the night, like, oh, I wish we could do this. Wouldn't that be so nice? We. We really want to speak to them on their level in their language. So this is literally. This is messy. I. I hope you can see there's coffee stains on this. I started highlighting at one point, then I realized it was kind of redundant since this was like the cream of the crop of everything that my clients say. And basically, I have four columns here. So. And this is, for me, this is what I found relevant to my clients. I help my clients kind of formulate this for themselves. So for my clients, there's the need to learn column. There's there a zero. You know that song Zero to Hero in Hercules? I love that song. This is really their zero. Like, before they've taken their adventure, before they've really done anything exciting or worthwhile where, like, what they're concerned with here, what they imagine their hero situation is going to look like. So when they ultimately have everything they want, what does that look like? And what are their greatest fears? And so what I'll do when I am thinking about going live or trying to figure out what to talk about. And. Hi, Laura. Hello, Cesar. And Hi, Ram. Welcome. Oh, my gosh. So many people midday on a Tuesday. Who knew? So when I'm really trying to figure out what I should be going live on, I'll literally just look at this list and see what catches my fancy, what has juice for me that day. Maybe I'll look at something and think, oh, yeah, you know, I've seen a couple people posting about that today. That'll be interesting to go live on. And basically. So let's just go. Let's just go down here. So one of the things in the 0 is they have no confidence, right? And so what I'll think of is, okay, so someone who has no confidence, what does that look like? You know, what does their day look like? What are they afraid to do? What do they wish they had the confidence to do? And I'll come up with a story that kind of paints the picture of what that looks like, and then I'll really think about, like, what are the three components that feed into giving someone confidence in something new? Right? There's trying it out and failing. But. But understanding why you're failing, right? There is seeking out mentors who can normalize why you failed and show you a better way. There's. There's trying it and having it work. It's almost like riding a bike, right? So when I started riding a bike, like, I didn't start pedaling right away. What I would do is I kind of scoop my feet and then hold my feet up off the ground to show myself that I could balance, right? And I wouldn't fall all the time because I could always just put my feet back down. Right? So when you think of building confidence, you start thinking of all the components that tie into it, and then you basically just create a storyline for your life. I find that people like it when things come in threes, five sevens, tens. As humans, we are really weird. We tend to like odd numbers more than round numbers or even numbers, unless it's a multiple of 10. But, yeah, the research is one of the richest places that you can get your. Your inspiration for your life because it is specifically geared towards your ideal client. Okay, so that's my first one, is I turn to the research. Research is king in my world. And. Hi, Laura. So good to see you. Number two. And this is also kind of tying into speaking to my ideal clients. You know, I share my personal stories. I share things that have happened to me in my life, areas in which I struggled and had to figure out how to overcome things. Because here's. Here's the basic truth is that we are all our own ideal client, right? So, like me five years ago, that's my ideal client. Like, I wish I could have hired me five years ago. I wish that were possible. It's not, unfortunately. But sharing where I was in the struggle of that. And here's where people get freaked out about sharing their story. They get freaked out because they think, oh, I'm gonna have to share the details of my life. And that's too personal for me. And here's the difference. You don't actually have to share the details of your life. You have to share the emotion, right? So I talk a lot about. About almost having to declare bankruptcy when I first started my company, okay? I don't share the details of that. I don't share what I spent my money on. I don't share how much in debt I was. I don't share who my creditors were. I don't share my living situation. Like, that stuff is personal to me. And maybe at some point it will become a story that I'm comfortable sharing. However, I do get to share the feeling, and that's something that I feel safe and comfortable sharing with you all. And it's something that you can resonate with because we all know that sense of, oh, my God, I have fucked up my life beyond recognition, beyond repair, and what am I going to do? I'm in this deep, dark hole and I have no idea how to get out. Right? And what's the emotional work that you have to do to even imagine a world where you've gotten out of that hole, Right? You get to talk about the emotion of it. You get to talk about the spiritual journey of it rather than the details, okay? And that's something that your people are really going to resonate with. And so that's. Number two, is sharing your personal story and how you've overcome things and how you deal with things to this day. It doesn't have to be something that you figured out. You don't have to be perfect in any sense of the word, okay? You just have to be like a step or two ahead of people. You know, say. Say you have anxiety and you're constantly finding new strategies to deal with your anxiety, new ways to handle it, new ways to prevent having panic attacks. Share that. You don't have to. You don't have to be panic attack free for a certain amount of time before you share that part of your journey with people. It's valuable now. All right? So that's. Number two, is sharing your story. Number Three is actually kind of a tried and true method for a lot of people. It's honestly just going to Facebook groups where my ideal clients are hanging out and seeing what questions they're asking. Right? So, for instance, I am a member of this Facebook group that's for coactive coaches, and I'm constantly seeing messages in there asking for another coach to discount themselves for someone who can't afford it. And so a topic that I like talking about is really, if you're expecting other coaches to discount their services for clients who aren't willing to pay their prices, you're never going to make money in your business. You're never going to do it, because here you are setting the standard for how other coaches should be managing their business.

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And you're expecting them, and you're a colleague of theirs, and here you are expecting them to discount their services to match a client that is not the ideal client for them. Now, if you're expecting that of other coaches, I guarantee you're expecting that of yourself. I guarantee there's a part of your business where things are negotiable, and the things that are negotiable are the things that make sure that you have the ability to pay your own bills. Sean, this one really resonates with me. Katie, good. I'm so glad. I hope you're finding this helpful. And hi, Jessica. And I. I think that's Kevin. I can't. It's so funny on Instagram because people have the username and it's not always their first name, and that's what shows up when they. When they join the live. And so I'm never quite sure what the first name is unless I can really see the. The picture. So you go into these Facebook groups and you look at the questions and you can either answer the question and give value. You can. If they're complaining about something that's happening in the industry, go live on that topic. Okay? You're. You are an expert in this industry, okay? You get to go and have opinions at the world about it. And it really. People don't necessarily even have to agree with you. But the fact that you are a voice out there opining openly about what you think in this certain area, I mean, that shows that you are a player in the field. Okay? And then, of course, you know, if you have a reaction to a type of question that is being asked, like the one that I just described, you know what, Go and have that opinion. All right? So Facebook groups are great. And of course, other groups, if you Belong to like a discord chat where people are asking questions. That's great. Same with Slack anywhere where there's a community and there are questions being asked. That is a prime source for content. And literally, I mean, you could go, you could go and just spend a whole day just paying attention to the chat and writing down ideas or, or going through the history of the chat for the last month. Okay. It's fair game, Tommy. Now this is something I need to share with others. Oh, I'm so glad. Thank you. And I hope you don't mind, I'm moving my phone over because blocking the screen so I can see the comments on streamyard. Anyway. Okay, so that's number three. And I'm actually a little nervous to tell you the. The next one because this is something I really don't talk about that often. The. The fourth way I, I come up with content is honestly, I use tarot cards. I'm not. I'm not a witch. I'm not. Well, I love a lot of like the spirituality that goes with that, but I'm not gonna like, do a reading for anyone. That's not how I use tarot cards. I am a big believer that you can get inspiration from anything and. Hi, David, welcome. I'm a big believer that you can get inspiration from absolutely anything. I really like tarot cards that are plain spoken. I don't like the ones that super mystical and you can't really figure out what they're trying to tell you. The deck that I like using right now is called Mystic Mondays Tarot. And really I just kind of imagine my ideal client, what they need to hear today, and I just kind of shuffle the cards around and I'm gonna just do this live with you. I might as well. So let's see. Oh, this one, this one just popped out at me. It just flipped over. It's the death card, which isn't that pretty. So the death card. Okay, so we all know that. Well, I don't know how much you know about Tara. I'm. Oh, my God, I'm so excited to be sharing this with you all. Okay, so the death card. Let me look this up. This is literally what I do when I'm, you know, really strapped for ideas. And I just kind of need some inspiration and want to, you know, just talk about something that's kind of outside of my norm. Okay, so the death card. So this came to me. There's. Okay, so in. In tarot cards, they can right side up or upside down, and they mean different things when they're right side up and upside down. So this one was right side up. And what it says in the little book that comes with it, no, you are not going to die. Very reassuring. That's just a common misconception of the death card. Death indicates an end of an aspect of your life which can range from a job to a relationship. So you see how this is already super easy for me to tie into what I talk about with my clients, right? Okay. Yeah. Like the end of a job, the end of a way that you work, an end of how you've been operating in your business. Okay. So stay tuned. Death must occur in order for you to have a new beginning, shifting you forward into a transition period of rebirth and renewal. Okay, so this has to happen. There has to be an end to this chapter before you're able to go forth and be successful in the next chapter. How cool is that? Okay. The cycle of death is quite natural and can be seen in nature transforming throughout the different seasons. Like nature, you are also going through a transformation that will be of great significance. So I love that because it really ties into, you know, transformation is not comfortable. You know, it's kind of weird. Like, we're transitioning from summer to fall right now I'm wearing a sweater, and yet it's slightly too hot outside for me to be wearing a sweater. Okay. It's a little uncomfortable. And yet we know that it doesn't last. Okay. Change is coming, sweeping the past to the side so that you can embrace the opportunities of the future. Okay, I love that. Change is coming, sweeping the past to the side, sweeping everything that hasn't worked for you till now, up till now to the side so that you can embrace the opportunities of the future. Like, that ties in so well to my business because my clients are really putting themselves out there so those opportunities can present themselves to them, clear the clutter and let go of what is not serving you in order to make room for new life. When one door closes, another one opens. There is no life without death. So basically, what I would do if I'm. If I'm setting up a live, and I have done this, you've actually seen. If you watch my lives regularly, you have seen me do multiple lives where I have actually mixed some of these techniques. So I go and I find. I find a topic for my research, and then I pull three cards from my tarot card deck, and I actually come up with a whole live based on what I've pulled, and I just make it relevant. But here's the Thing is that these kinds of prompts, books of poetry, books of daily readings and daily devotionals, the. What is it? The Daily Stoic by what's his name. All of those. All those, like, short, content little bursts are great places to go to for content for your lives. You don't. You don't have to overthink it. You don't have to, like, take it word for word. I'm not. Most of the time when I'm going live, I'm not. I'm not announcing, hey, I pulled the desk card, and here's what it means for you. I could absolutely. But it's just kind of not really what I want to be known for. I want to be known for talking more about what's useful to my ideal clients. So that's one of the things that I do to get content for my lives, is I pull tarot cards. But like I said, you can go and get books of quotes. You can get a daily devotional that you read. You can get, like, a funny, inspirational playing cards. There's one that has, like, all quotes from Amy Poehler that I love, that I used to use all the time. Everything can be made to be relevant to your ideal clients and to your audience. Okay? You just have to connect the dots and make it so. So that's number four, and then number five is honestly my favorite way to do this. It's just finding random shit out in the world and making it relevant to my people. The most recent example of this. I don't know if you saw the live that I did on Boaty McBoat face, which is the. There was this. This competition to name a research vessel by the. The UK government. All right? And so they were building this ship, and they put it to the public to come up with a name and to vote on the most popular name. And. And it backfired. It backfired terribly because someone submitted Bodie McBoatface. And then, of course, everyone piled on and voted for that. Right? And I think. I think I actually don't even remember the point that I made with that live, But I think the point was to not ask for feedback from people who don't know what you're talking about. That might have been the point. I don't know. I could have gone a million ways with it, but I just love that story. It makes me laugh every single time I think of it. Laura. I've never been more proud to be British. Yes, I. I would be with you if I were British. I'm, like, so super disappointed that I'm not British when it comes to that story because it's so incredible. Just to. To close the loop on that. They didn't actually end up naming the boat Boaty MC Boatface, but they did name a smaller vessel that name. I think they ended up naming the. The boat that, with the competition was about after. What's his name? David Attenborough, the naturalist. Anyway, but just random, you know, talking about my dog, talking about politics. I know people get really freaked out about that, talking about your favorite book. I know I've done a fair amount of lives about Harry Potter and different entrepreneurs in Harry Potter and how we can take lessons from them, but, yeah, I mean, that is. That's essentially it. That's how I come up with topics to go live on. It's. It's imperfect. It. Nothing. Nothing works every single day. So here's the thing you can come up with. Here's my formula to figure out a live. And you're going to do, like three to five lives doing that way. And then the sixth one, you're going to get stuck. You're gonna get stuck, and you're just gonna be like, I don't have any juice for this. This isn't. I don't. I don't. I'm not feeling this. This isn't really a topic I want to talk about. You need to find different ways to inspire yourself. Okay. The key here is you have to be excited about the topic. Okay. Because if I came on here and talked about a topic that I was already bored of, like, I'm sorry, I can act, but I'm gonna. I'm gonna be very obviously bored with the topic. You're not gonna want to. Want to. You're not gonna want to watch it. Okay. You're gonna kind of feel that I'm being bored with it, and you're gonna move on anyway. So just to summarize, the five ways in which I come up with topics to go live on are. One, my research with my ideal clients. That is honestly the best way for you to go and get topics that are going to get you clients. Number two is talking about your personal story, your challenges, how you overcame. It really shows that you understand your ideal clients and kind of shows them your style and your personality so they can opt in or opt out. Number three, Facebook groups, answering questions, having opinions about topics or questions that are often asked in those groups. Let me see. Lee liking number two, especially when I feel stuck on a technical issue in my niche. What did I do to get out. Get out of it could definitely help others. Yeah, 100%. You know, what worked for you and what could work for others is really valuable. Number four, tarot cards or daily devotionals or books of poetry or anything like anything that sparks a little bit of, of an idea to get you going. And then number five, random shit. Random shit in the world. I mean, you could literally do a live on the business learnings that you have from cooking pasta. You know, I'm just going to leave you with that. And if you want to, if you want to post where you would take that in the comments, I would so be about hearing that. If you want to DM it to me, that would also be cool. Anyway, I hope this is useful. If you have any further questions of things that you would like me to go live on for the rest of this month, because remember, I'm doing this every day of the month of September, then please DM me or put them in the comments. I would love to answer any questions you have. And other than that, I just got a text from someone about this live. Okay, cool. I'll whoever texted me hi and I will respond to this as soon as I can get my phone because I'm going live on Instagram there too. Anyway, I'm Katie McManus, Business Strategist, Leadership coach, and super awkward at ending lives, especially when I'm going live on two different places. So excuse me while I end everything, but I can't wait to be going live with you every day for the rest of this month. And like I said, if you have any questions or topics you want me to go live on, please DM me. It works. This live has been about a question that got DM'd to me. Anyway, have a great Tuesday and a great rest of your week and I will see you soon. Okay, now the awkward part. And then.