How to Plan 6 Months at a Time in Your Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Have you started thinking about the next 6 months in your business? What if I told you that you could plan 6 months as a small business owner and entrepreneur and feel confident in your business plans as we head into your next phase? Half of your business success comes down to having a plan, and this 5-step process can help. Learn how to make your 6-month calendar for content, launches, and main focuses in your business. Learn more at brandmerry.com! #businessplans #6monthplans #endoftheyearplan

In March 2021, I released a Reel over on Instagram that showed a quick look at how I prepare for every quarter in my business. 

The video showed my giant calendar wall in my office where I have exactly six months visible to me at all times. I showcased the process of me planning with my Post-it notes, and the response was, "Michelle, we need a video about this. Michelle, we need to know how you're doing this, all of the details." 

So here we are. 

We’re jumping in with a six-month, step-by-step, behind-the-scenes look at planning. 

Now, before we get into those step-by-step pieces, I want to take a few minutes to talk about why I think planning is important and also talk about one of the key things that I do before planning for six months.

WHY PLANNING IS IMPORTANT

Some of you might be here because like me you love planning!

Some of you might be teetering a little bit. You might have been gung-ho about planning. You might try to do it a lot and then find that you fall off the wagon, but you get back on again, and you keep doing it, and you keep trying new strategies over and over again. 

And then there are a few of you that are here because you're super intrigued, but you also have a lot of resistance when it comes to planning because it can feel very restrictive.

So I want to take an opportunity to share with you the mindset shift that completely changed the way I view planning in my business. 

I've always been a big fan of planning. Even since I was a little girl, I used to plan out, on note cards (thanks, Mom), my goals for the year.

Then I'd tuck them away, and I'd never look at them again. I think we can all agree that's not how you plan effectively 😂. 

Over the years planning took on two different emotions for me, I’d either have these big ambitions to plan, but then I’d feel as if I was setting crazy unrealistic expectations for myself and freeze.

Or the idea of planning would feel restrictive; as if I couldn't do anything else, and so I never really followed through with the plan.

It wasn't until I became an entrepreneur and started my business in 2016 that I realized that I was constantly sitting in overwhelm without a plan.

I would question:
👉 How am I going to make money?
👉 What am I going to share today?
👉 What am I going to email?
👉 How am I going to get new clients?
👉 What am I focusing on?

And every day, I would repeat that kind of overwhelmed feeling, because I didn't have a plan.

This season of life made me realize that by having a big-picture plan in place, I was able to be more creative in my business. By having this roadmap in place I moved out of overwhelm, and I had more opportunities to create and be in my zone of genius, and that has served me as a business owner in so many ways.

So if you're coming into this like me where you might have had a little bit of resistance about the idea of planning and having it all mapped out, I hope that this blog changes your view on what planning is. 

So if you're worried about being restricted when it comes to planning for six months, I want to encourage you to look at it a different way, and look at it as a roadmap guiding you, allowing you to be in your zone of genius and have more time and space for more creativity.

PLAN YOUR FOCUS FOR THE YEAR

On my office wall, there are six calendars, one for every month. Now every single day doesn’t need to have something on it, remember this is big picture planning, but the purpose is to map out where you’re going.

So the first thing you need to determine before you start mapping out your steps, is what is the main focus for the year.  

Now, many of you watching this video are most likely small business owners and entrepreneurs and might find that your yearly goal is a specific dollar amount, but this works for anything and I often follow the same structure when I determine how many trips I want to take in a year.

When I'm heading into the year, I like to figure out: 

• What is my purpose? 

• What is my focus going to be for the year? 

• How much revenue do I want to bring into the company for the year? 

• How is that broken up into each quarter? 

• How is that broken up into the individual offers that I have, or that I'm planning on putting out?

So I never go into six months completely blind. I definitely know, "Hey, by December 31st, 2021, this is what I want to achieve," and this allows me to reverse engineer, and it makes the planning process easier. 

So although I'm not going into all the details of planning for 12 months at a time in this post. I want you to know that thinking of the big picture is important, and you want to have at least a number, or something measurable, tied to your yearly goal so you can move forward with mapping out six months, quarterly (every three months) and monthly actions in your business.

5 STEPS TO PLAN 6 MONTHS

Don’t move on until you’ve got your big picture goal established.
Ready?
Ok, let’s dive into it!

PLANNING TIP #1: START WITH THE BIG PICTURE

Number one is kind of a piggyback on what we just talked about, and that's thinking big picture. When you're planning for six months, which can feel like a lot of work, you're thinking about focus. 

You're thinking about the bigger picture of…
What am I trying to achieve for these six months?
What are going to be my big three things that I want to hit?

That is going to allow you to figure out all the nitty-gritty details needed to get there.

Sometimes people think when we're talking about content, specifically, that we're planning content for six months. I'm not saying, "Tell me the title of every blog post that you're going to create for the next six months."

That's not necessary, at this stage. That comes later, in step five. 

But you do want to understand what the focus will be over the next six months.

So think again: 

• What is the yearly goal? 

• Okay, how does that play a role in the next six months? 

• How does that play a role in the next 90 days? 

Because in case you didn't realize, you have to go through the 90 days to get to the six months, and the six months to get to the year. 

So reverse engineering from the big picture goal for the year to the focus every six months and 90 days will give you the stepping stones to get to your end result.

PLANNING TIP #2: CREATE YOUR WORKFLOW

Step two is to create your workflow. 

Now, in a recent episode of Monday’s with Michelle, I talked about the process of creating a workflow. As entrepreneurs, workflows are so important. If you want to achieve your goals, you need to have the systems in place that are going to support you in achieving your goals. 

One of the things that I did a couple of years ago, that changed my business completely, was this idea of creating a very clear content workflow. 

So every week, I know how many blog posts I'm creating, how many videos I'm creating as part of Mondays with Michelle, how many podcast episodes I'm putting out there, what emails are coming from that content, where I'm showing up on social media or other platforms. And I have a clear workflow every week that resets.

So we go through our week, tick the boxes, and it resets the next week. The topic will change weekly, but what we're doing behind the scenes to get the content out there does not change. 

Having a workflow is going to help you plan out six months with ease. 

This calendar that I'm looking at, says every Monday there's a Mondays with Michelle video.
Every Thursday, there's a blog post.
Every Wednesday, there's a YouTube video.
Every other Friday, there's a podcast episode.

That's what I'm able to visually see on this big-picture calendar that I've got up, and that helps guide my efforts. So make sure you have a workflow in place, and if you don't have one, there's an entire video and blog teaching you how to create your own.

PLANNING TIP #3: DETERMINE IMPORTANT DATES

Step three, when planning out for six months, is to determine any big launches, promotions, dates, and vacations. Any big these-are-set-in-stone dates that aren't super flexible.  

You want to put those on your calendar because that is going to impact a lot of your content that you're creating. It's going to help you look ahead and say, "Oh, I'm opening the doors to the Academy." 

Which I am, at the end of May. Just a heads-up 😉

I know that that's happening and it’s already on my calendar. This helps me determine what content to share leading up to that. I know The Academy is focused on marketing your business, so my content will be marketing-focused.

This clear focus will help build know, like, and trust with my audience so that you're most likely to join me inside of the Academy.

It's also going to allow me to put my promotion dates on there. If you're doing a challenge or a masterclass, what day you're going to open the cart and what day you're going to close the cart. If you're going to run ads, when are you going to run ads? 

So putting your actual promotion dates on your calendar will allow you to reverse engineer and add in the smaller details needed for a successful promotion. 

So step three is to determine those big launches, promotions, or any specific dates that you have. 

Think of EVERYTHING!
Maybe you're launching a podcast. What date is that? 
Maybe you're thinking of launching or putting a new product out there. What date is that? 
Maybe you're putting out a freebie. What date is that? 

Putting these markers on your calendar will help you get ahead of the game and help you embrace more of a forward-thinking mentality so you never “feel behind.”

One of the biggest things that I see entrepreneurs doing is that they aren't planning this far in advance.

They'll do maybe 30 days, and then the end of the 30 days comes, and they're like, "Oh, I have no idea what I'm doing next month." And then they're like, "Oh, I want to start a freebie, and I want to put it out next week." And then they're scrambling and doing mediocre work to get it out there. 

Give yourself space. 

By me looking at September, I can kind of, in the back of my mind, start thinking about all the things that I am doing and start formulating ideas around that. So when it comes time to create that stuff, it's not just coming out of thin air.

PLANNING TIP #4: PUT UP A 6 MONTH CALENDAR

Now, and only now do we physically put the calendar together.

I like seeing my calendar all of the time in my office, it’s incredibly helpful for me and has been for my clients as well. 

Sometimes people feel overwhelmed because things change, but again when we’re planning for 6 months we’re not focused on the tiny, tiny details we reserve for our Google Calendars, we’re focused on “What’s Happening!”

Once you’ve determined your physical calendar, then you want to take those dates that you've determined from step three and use Post-Its to pencil in. 

I like Post-its because you can move things around, as things change, which they will and not have to start over.

So once you have your calendar up and Post-its ready you want to do the following:

1. Add you’re important dates. Think launches, sales, promotions, vacations, etc…
   

2. Add your weekly workflow to the calendar. Think blogs, podcasts, videos, live streams, etc… If you write a blog every Wednesday you need a Post-it for every Wednesday.

What this is going to allow you to do is support you in the last step, which is adding the details for the next 90 days.

PLANNING TIP #5: ADD DETAILS FOR THE NEXT 90 DAYS

Now, I am not going to sit here and lie to you and tell you that I know what I'm talking about in September. I don't know what I'm talking about in July, but I know that I will be showing up, and that is super clear. 

But what I do know is what's happening in the next 90 days in my business down to the detail.

This blog that you're reading right now, if you are reading it on May 6th, when it's released, was recorded for a Monday’s with Michelle on April 6th. It's an entire month ahead, and that's because I have a clear workflow. 

So one of the things that you want to do in step five is add those individual details OFF of the calendar. I prefer a task management platform or Google Calendar for the details because your calendar can get super messy and you’re not able to list out all the tiny micro details on your physical calendar.

We use ClickUp, as a task management tool, and put those tasks and the workflow inside of there.

This allows your 6-month physical calendar to showcase the big picture and focus and your task management software to map out the smaller details needed to achieve that focus.

Or, if you’re visual like me a little something like this:

BIG PICTURE YEAR GOAL

👇

6 MONTH FOCUS
With important dates, general workflow, and promotions

👇

90-DAY FOCUS 

Specifics on what you’ll be sharing in your content, topics, etc...

HOW PLANNING LEADS TO CONSISTENCY

While I do have a team to support my business efforts today, I've been doing this since I was sailing the ship by myself. Having a clear idea of how I was showing up every week for my audience allowed me to continuously grow my audience and make sales.

As an online brand wanting to build a revenue-generating business you don’t want to disappear or ghost your growing audience, this is why creating consistent content is important.

Consistently creating content and putting your brand out into the world will allow you to continuously attract new people who have never seen you before, lead them through the process, and ultimately to the sale. 

And rather than constantly feeling overwhelmed with, "What should I talk about?" How would it feel if you just took an hour, every quarter, to plan all that out? 

I promise you, you get faster at it, and it gets easier.

RECAP

So let's quickly go through the five-step process again, and then I'm going to let you go on your way and start planning the next six months in business. I like to do this every quarter, adding on the next three months, but you can start this now, whenever you're reading this blog. It does not matter, but getting yourself in the habit will do tremendous things for your productivity and creativity.

Number 1: Think big picture. Remember, we're not talking nitty-gritty details for the next six months. We're looking at our goals for the year, and we're saying, "What is my focus going to be the next 90 days, the next six months? And how is that going to get me to my end goal?"

Number 2: Make sure you have a workflow in place. If you don't know what that is, or you need a step-by-step, go ahead and watch this video and grab this free gift. That is going to help you with this process.

Number 3: Determine any big dates, any big launches, and promotions. if you're going to launch a new freebie if you're launching a podcast if you're going on vacation. Whatever it is, it goes on your calendar, so you can work around it and reverse engineer any necessary promo.

Number 4: Put the six-month calendar up. Make it visible. Don't hide your plans. And if you can put it on a wall in your office or have a binder or something like that, go ahead and do that. But get that six-month calendar up. Put the major dates on there that we talked about in step three, and then put your workflow, blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, all the different things up there, with Post-its or dry erase or something.

Number 5:Add the individual details for the next 90 days. We add these details into ClickUp but you can use any task management software. Again, the calendar that I'm looking at behind me has very specific dates. How I'm showing up, launches, promos. But all my emails aren't up there. All of that stuff is in my task management platform, ClickUp. This is my big picture. This keeps me focused. This is my roadmap.

CONCLUSION

So I hope that this blog supported you in starting to think about the power of planning and how it can ultimately help you feel more aligned, make better decisions as a CEO, and be more creative. 

Let's remove the overwhelm with a plan! And this roadmap is going to make a difference.

Be sure that you save this post, so you can come back to it and you can repeat this process time after time. 

If you want to take a look at this layout, I've also linked the reel that I shared with you, if you want to physically see what this calendar looks like. 

And make sure you check out the workflow video to walk you through creating your repeatable workflow. And for additional support, go to brandmerry.com/repurpose to grab a complete repurposing guide that talks about creating your workflow.

Watch the full video here!

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Beautiful Climb podcast? I release new episodes every other Friday on topics around productivity, motherhood, habits, goals and going after the life of your dreams! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at thebeautifulclimb.com

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

The Framework for a Morning Routine You’ll Actually Stick To

The Framework for a Morning Routine You’ll Actually Stick To

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

To be honest I had a little resistance in writing this blog because I have a whole beef about morning routines. 

Then I thought, you probably have the same beef when you hear the term morning routines. You want one, but the information is just too much. 

I know the whole concept of morning routines can be very fluffy. If you've ever worked with me in my coaching, I don't do fluffy. I like action. I like actionable, deep work. So let's do a new spin on the morning routine. Shall we?

Let's start with the beef. When I first started my business, Brandmerry.com in 2016 I was just one month postpartum. So there already wasn't much of a morning routine happening at that point because we were just surviving. 

However, at the same time of going through this postpartum period, I also started building my business and exploring this whole idea of entrepreneurship.

Shortly into doing that, I felt like I was bombarded with information on coming up with a morning routine. This isn't new, right? People have been talking about this forever, but to me, it was this new concept because I used to just, get up, brush my teeth and go to work. There was no morning routine happening. 

I was looking for stability at that time because I was in the midst of being a new mother and that incredible fog and uncertainty, so I started consuming all the content about morning routines. 

Fast forward to September of that same year and I was leaving my nine to five to pursue my business full time.

I remember saying, “Okay, I'm about to work from home. I'm about to change my whole entire schedule with my kiddo.” So I started seeking out support inside of Facebook Groups on how to juggle the work from home life.

I asked them, “What do you recommend doing as you transition from working a nine to five then switching to running a business at home with a kiddo?” Everyone was like, “You must have your morning routine!”

Everyone was giving me all of this feedback on the morning routine:

“I meditate for 45 minutes.”
“I like to go for a 30-minute walk and go to the coffee shop.” 
“I have a 20-minute skincare routine.”

And I remember thinking that this must be the secret sauce, so I dove headfirst into creating a morning routine that looked like everyone else.

And I failed miserably.

I realize now that I wasn't actually failing. I had set crazy unrealistic expectations for what was happening in my life.

I was letting someone else tell me how my morning routine should go and what I should do. And then thinking that I would just mirror that and suddenly it would be all great.

THE TRUTH ABOUT MORNING ROUTINES

Morning routines aren’t the end all be all and they won’t make or break your success, but here is the thing that I later learned: Having that morning routine sets you up for success. 

It gets you in the mindset, the focus and grounded so that you can then take on all of the things that come your way throughout the day. There's always a rollercoaster ride of things throughout the day and being prepared (aka starting off on the right foot) is essential when handling them.

But the trouble with morning routines is when we hear other people talk about their morning routines, we try to parallel them. 

Rather than asking ourselves, “What do I need?” We assume if it worked for her, it will work for me and that's doing a disservice to your life, your season and your expectations. 

So rather than looking on Pinterest or another podcast, that tells you to do these five things every single day and then setting yourself up for something that might not work with your life, it’s important to have a framework, not an end all be all rule book.

MORNING ROUTINES ARE SELF CARE

Actively choosing your morning routine is just another opportunity for you to make choices for yourself and do things that serve you and your family at the highest level. 

Doing things that serve you and the life that you are building and making choices that are aligned with your goals.

Making those decisions first and foremost is important. And then taking action and creating habits around them and doing them in the morning so that you're setting yourself up; that's the whole point of the morning routine. 

There's no secret. 

It's this trifecta of choosing the things that are going to serve you, committing to them and making them a habit, which is one of my favorite things to talk about. 

On my podcast, The Beautiful Climb, episode 14 dives into the importance of habits, not just in a morning routine, but throughout the day as well.

YOUR ROUTINE SHOULD EVOLVE

There’s absolutely no shame in having a routine that evolves.

You are a human. You are evolving every single day. You're learning new things about yourself. The outside world is changing and impacting what you can and can't do. 

Your routines, including the ones you do in the morning, should mirror that.

I have learned rather than to be rigid with exactly what I'm doing, that every time I feel like something's off, or I need something new, I go back to the framework I’m about to share with you.

I like to ask myself and encourage you to do the same...

• What do I need during this time?

• What would support me most during this season of life?

• What are the pieces that I'm committing to doing daily? 

And then implementing them.

It's all in the habits. 

It's not in the specific thing that you do. 

It's in the fact that you are making it a recurring routine that you are committing to first thing in the morning to set yourself up for success and alignment throughout the day.

My morning routine has changed so much over the years as a mother, wife, entrepreneur, woman, daughter, etc...Every season demands something new from me and I must be willing to adapt to that while still honoring my habits and boundaries.

If you want to head my entire journey with morning routines, including what I’ve done and what I do today, head over to Episode 34 of The Beautiful Climb podcast and have a listen.

THE FRAMEWORK FOR A MORNING ROUTINE YOU’LL STICK TO

What I have found through my journey, working with my clients and chatting with my friends is that people really struggle with, “but what do I do?” 

And it’s because they're not asking themselves, “What do I need?” And then creating a routine that best supports that need. 

So the framework I’m about to share with you is just that, a framework. I encourage you to explore and fill in with the things that you personally need.

Today my morning routine is so different, then when I first started. My life has changed. My son has gone from crawling to walking to being more self-sufficient. My business has grown. My husband has retired and in each of those seasons I was forced to ask myself, “What do I need right now?” 

You can absolutely make your morning routine your own and one that serves you at the highest level.

For the framework, I recommend focusing on the big three. Choosing three main areas to focus on every morning. This typically looks like Mind, Body and Soul, but can be any combination you need most.

At this stage of my life, it's a focus on my fitness with high-intensity workouts, followed by getting myself ready mentally and then nourishing my soul. This looks like a 20-30 minute workout or rides on my Peloton, getting dressed in pants that button (no yoga pants here) and then making myself a healthy breakfast to start my day. 

I used to journal for 30 minutes, I’ve meditated for 10, I used to not work out daily, and that’s the point I want to make; your routine will change, but if you focus on the big three you’ll find you’re always giving yourself a well-rounded start to the day.

What I encourage you to do is think about three things that you could do every morning that maybe take 15 minutes. 

If you’ve got more time, then great!
Maybe you need to wake up a bit earlier (no 5 a.m.’s necessary) to give yourself a full 30 minutes.
Maybe you've got even more time and can take it nice and slow. Every season will be different!

Focus on the three core things you need most in this season, fitting them into a time frame that works for you and I promise it will be so empowering. 

And that's what I want you to remember. It's about listening to yourself, identifying what you need, making a plan for that, creating a habit and then taking action.

Rinse and repeat.

A SUCCESSFUL MORNING ROUTINE IS IN THE HABIT

The last thing that I'll share about setting up a morning routine is that it's all in the habits. 

If you haven't read Atomic Habits yet, it's one of my favorite books and there is a quote in there that says, “You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.” 

And that's why having systems for how you’re going to achieve something and taking daily action is so important.

Setting the intention is amazing; it’s the first step, but then you have to look and say “Well, what am I going to do to get there?” 

And then you have to honor that. 

You deserve healthy habits in your life, and they are the secret to getting to your goals, and an excellent place to start is with your morning routine.

I know the days when I fall off track, there will be days when nothing seems to be going right. You just want to sleep in. 
And you're thinking about how your legs hurt so maybe you’ll skip moving your body and just shower.
Or, maybe I’ll just get to work and check those emails to save some time.

But, I’ve noticed on those days it’s more important than ever to honor myself and start the day on the right foot and this includes setting boundaries not only with yourself but also with others.

You need to set boundaries. If you are thinking, “I don't have time in the morning, Michelle, to have a morning routine,” I need you to create time. 

And one of the ways that you can create time without waking up at the butt crack of dawn is to have conversations with people in your life and get support. 

If you find that when you try to work out at home, everybody is in your business and won't leave you alone, then you need to get out of the house and figure out how you can do that. 

If you’ve got a kid, bring them with you. Go for a walk or just have a conversation with them and say, this is what I need to do. Invite them to join you as you workout and set the tone with them that this time is sacred.

Get them in the habit of creating morning routines as well. I love that my son Cal has his morning routine. This kid has created almost his own morning routine on accident because I have created mine and he's watched that happen. 

Talk with your spouse, your kids, your roommate and let them know what you need to make this happen! And honor your boundaries with yourself by scheduling your morning routine, honoring your commitments and taking action.

You deserve it!

Set yourself up for success.

Get your systems in place.

Honor yourself.

Check-in with yourself and rock your morning.

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Beautiful Climb podcast? I release new episodes every other Friday on topics around productivity, motherhood, habits, goals and going after the life of your dreams! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at thebeautifulclimb.com

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Tips to Plan for 2022 in Your Business

3 Tips to Plan for 2022 in Your Business

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

This post has been updated to support you in 2022.

I know planning for the New Year can come with a mixed bag of emotions, you're excited about all the possibilities, but you're also thinking of all the things that didn't "quite work out" from the previous year.

Maybe, you want to plan but can't find the motivation to do so.

Or, if you're like most of my clients, planning doesn't come naturally to you, so you try and avoid it.

Well, planning is not something you can avoid if you want to build a scalable revenue-generating business.

Having a plan gives you direction, and actually leaves room for more creativity and inspiration.

To support you, I wanted to share three no-fail tips to help you with your plans!

1. SET GOOD, BETTER AND BEST GOALS

This little strategy really changed the game for me when I started implementing it two years ago and it's so simple.

The idea here is that you can feel really down on yourself if you don't hit your goals, which might even be one of the reasons you avoid planning in the first place. So, to support you in feeling your best and confident heading into the year you want to set a Good, Better and Best goal for your annual cash revenue for 2022.

List all three, but map out the "Best" scenario when planning for the year ahead, then, if you fall short on some of your goals you'll still hit the "Good" or "Better" bracket!

And in case you're wondering, you can make this your own. Your goals might have a $3,000 difference between them or $50,000 - it doesn't matter it's all about what feels good for you.

This is one of the ways I love supporting my VIP Intensive clients because we spend time mapping out their plans in their business and then take the necessary actions to bring those plans to life. Sometimes it can feel really overwhelming to actually take action on your goals, but this is hands down one of my superpowers and how I love supporting my clients.

2. MAP OUT YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

After your brand foundation is set, your marketing is everything. 

It's not only how you attract new quality leads to your brand, but also how you nurture them into paying clients. Yet, so many people go into marketing their business in a way that mimics throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks.

Strategic marketing starts with a clear plan of when and where you're showing up weekly in your business.

Think about how often you want to show up in 2022.

Think about which platforms you want to optimize (not doing them all at once).

And think about the way in which you want to share your content.

Then begin to map out your content monthly (making it a goal to work up to 90 days)! Yes, it's totally possible.

3. OPTIMIZE YOUR SCHEDULE

If you're not already doing this, I promise this little hack will save you so much time in the New Year. It's all about bulk scheduling.

I've got a lot of love languages in building a simple and scalable business and one of the tactics I've been using since 2016 has been bulk scheduling my content, client calls, admin, etc.

As you plan out your 2022, think about the days of the week where you can set aside 3-4 hours to bulk create.

I recommend starting with one day and then going from there. I love to support my clients in using their one day for content creation so they can have their content ready to go every week.

From there, you can add additional days. 

At the beginning of my business, I would create content on Sundays because it was the only day my husband was consistently home from work (it's best if this time can be uninterrupted so I needed help with my son) and I was working a 9 to 5 during the week.

When I left my 9 to 5, I started having my bulk day on Monday. As we prepare for 2022, and I've grown my team, I actually get three bulk days #soexcited!

Start small and grow from there.

BONUS TIP: Put this day on your calendar weekly and coordinate any support you might need to make it happen.

CONCLUSION

Having a plan can save you so much time and energy, and help you focus on your business.

I know how easy it can be to get distracted and while a plan isn’t designed to be the end all be all, it will support you in staying on course.

So many people are afraid to plan because they are afraid to fail. However, after five years in business, I can tell you without a doubt that it is the entrepreneurs with a plan that is more likely to hit their goals.

Because having a clear plan allows for clear action.

And taking action is my specialty and it’s one of the reasons entrepreneurs work with me through my VIP Intensive. 

This VIP Intensive is the jump start you need to create a clear strategic plan (one that isn’t full of fluff and wasted time) and the necessary momentum to take consistent action.

Spots are limited, with only a few available every month. Learn more about the VIP Intensives and apply at brandmerry.com/intensive.

P.S. Are we connected on Instagram? No? Well lady what’s happening here we’ve got to fix that. Come hang out with me on my favorite social media platform. Follow for inspiration and send me a DM to know we’re connected.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

4 Steps to Create Consistent Content for Your Business

If you’d like to watch the full video, you can do that here.

Content creation, you either love it or hate. I freaking love it and over the past four years of running my online business, I’ve shown up every single week with content for my audience.

I have over 200 blogs on my website, I’ve emailed my list at least once a week and the number of videos I’ve created is crazy. I do it because I love it, but I’ve also found a way to do it without spending all my time on it.

And content has gotten a bad wrap, people are talking about how you don’t need it, but in this blog, I’m going to share why it’s important and how to consistently show up for your audience without feeling stressed and overwhelmed with the process. 

3 LEVELS OF CONTENT CREATION

There are three levels your audience passes through, that you need to be aware of when creating content.

LEVEL ONE IS AWARENESS.
It’s the level in which people learn about you, your brand and maybe your service for the first time. Suddenly you’re on their radar and their awareness is heightened.

LEVEL TWO IS ATTRACTION.
After someone has an awareness of your brand, we then move our attention to attracting them to our inner circle/ or tribe. The goal here is to get people to sign up for your email list. Attracting them with a signature piece of content or, as I prefer, a lead magnet where they have to join your list to get it.

LEVEL THREE IS CONNECTION.
At this phase, we are putting the emphasis on nurturing your growing audience. The goal is to show up for them, connect with them and ultimately lead them to the sale.

Now, of course, someone could see your brand and go straight to the sale.

Somebody could join your list and go straight to the sale, but the majority of the people (think 90% need a little more nurturing and trust building).

Each of the levels shared above relies on content.

You can't really bring people to your brand, make them aware of your brand and what you have to offer if you're not showing up.

You can’t attract the right people and get them ready to join your email list if you’re not creating the quality content they want.

And, we can't really connect with people and build that relationship if we're not showing up and connecting with them consistently. 

So everything that we do as an online entrepreneur is really centered around content.

CONSISTENT CONTENT DOESN’T MEAN POSTING DAILY

When I talk about consistent content people’s immediate reaction is that I’m asking them to post every day, when the truth is far from that.

I actually hate this strategy and don’t use it in my business. I teach a very, very different method inside of Brandmerry Academy that relies on the art of repurposing.

But, what I want to drive home is the element of consistency. Consistency doesn’t mean daily, it means being consistent in your scheduling.

If you decide that you want to show up twice a week, consistently show up twice a week

If you decide you want to show three, four, whatever it is times a week, consistently do that. 

One of the worst things you can do is break your consistency, yet so many entrepreneurs fall off the wagon once or twice and then stop. Rather than hoping back on, it becomes this whole thing of, “Do I hop back on? How do I get back into it? Where do I start again?”

We put too much pressure on ourselves that if something happens, and we don't show up, or you know, we don't write a blog that week that we have to start over from the beginning and that is so not the case. 

That’s why so much of consistently showing up online and sharing content is reliant on our mindset. 

The tips below will only work if you understand that life will happen, you might fall off the schedule a few times, but the best thing you can do is get back up and work on your content creation habits.

Remember the more that you show up, the more consistent you are, the more your audience hears from you. 

The less you show up, the less consistent you are, the less your audience hears from you.

It’s not science.

Ok, on to the 4 Tips to Create Consistent Content in Your Business.

1. STAY INSPIRED TO CREATE CONTENT

You have to stay inspired and motivated. The key to being excited about creating content is to always look for ways to be inspired.

Let me give you an example. 

I know that if I need to create content, my butt goes outside.

If I know that I need to create content, let’s say I want to brainstorm and map out 90 days of topics I head to Starbucks.

I know the type of environments and resources that get me inspired and motivated. What are yours?

We have to put ourselves in places that inspire us if we ever hope to be inspired.

If you're sitting In bed, on your laptop, you're probably not feeling very inspired. 

So not only do we need to put ourselves in situations where we're feeling inspired, but we also have to get excited about what it is we are doing.

So much of getting excited ties back to the purpose of your business. 

Why are you doing this? 
Why should you show up and create content?
Who is it for?

If you haven't figured out the real purpose and mission behind your business, today would be a great day to write that down.

When I tap into my purpose of empowering women to own their story and show up and share that with the world through their brand that keeps me motivated. So, even if I am tired or don’t feel 100% in it, I root myself in my purpose and excitement hits.

The core part of consistently thinking of content topics, consistently showing up and delivering that content and consistently engaging comes from being inspired and being motivated. 

2. LOOK AROUND FOR CONTENT IDEAS

When we start thinking about creating content we sit down with a notepad, in a quiet room and write our ideas.

I'm telling you, I've had the best content ideas in the shower, or walking through the grocery store, listening to podcasts, or scrolling on Instagram, which is not in a dark room with a notepad.

I’m using the everyday moments around me to think of ideas. For instance, when I hop on Instagram I won’t just do it to waste some time, but I’ll set the intention to see if anything inspires me outside of my industry.

Then I use that inspiration to create a piece of content.

This is why I’m a big fan of using Trello or Google Docs as a way to organize a content idea bank because as I’m going about my day, with the intention to look for ideas, I can pause and add my idea to my Trello board and then go back about my day.

What I’m doing is I’m creating a resource of content ideas every single day, rather than sitting down to “try and write” and feeling incredibly lost and stuck.

The biggest mistake I see entrepreneurs make is feeling like it's 100% up to them to come up with topics for their content.

Look around you.
Get inspired.
Don’t be afraid to Google topics and see what comes up.
Search on Pinterest for a topic and see what comes to your mind.
Look in a Facebook Group and search for topics to see what people ask.

Shift the way you go about getting ideas away from sitting down and brainstorming, to setting the intention to always look for ideas.

3. MAKE CONTENT CREATION A PRIORITY

Your content creation and your business in general, shouldn't just fit in where it fits in your schedule. Make it a priority and move the other things to fit around it.

You will get results if you’re carving out a dedicated chunk of time at least once a week to create your content if you’re not then you're doing yourself a disservice.

You don’t need to create every single day, many of my clients have one designated content creation/ writing day a week. And if you do it, for let’s say two weeks, and still don’t find you’re able to create the amount of content you want in that time frame then cut back on the content or master your repurposing workflow.

Do what you can in that time frame and then as your business grows, as you hire more team members, as you get faster and faster writing content and blog posts, then you can start to create more and show up on more platforms.

So many people fall off because they're trying to do way too much when it comes to content creation, they can't keep up with it. 

I am a big fan of bulk scheduling. I bulk create and write my content on Monday’s.

I don't do calls on Mondays and pretty much my entire day is carved out to create my content.

I use this time to write my notes for my weekly live stream, Mondays With Michelle, schedule my social media posts and choose the graphics.

4. CHOOSE YOUR CONTENT PLATFORMS WISELY

When you’re starting your online business you’re thinking, “Ok, I’m going to create a website and hope someone comes to it and then I’ll show up on social media. I’ll create a Facebook group or I'll join some Facebook groups, and I'll show up on Instagram.”

Sound familiar? I know it was exactly what I did in the beginning.

This is why so many entrepreneurs get overwhelmed because in order for your stuff to really get seen on those platforms you need to consistently post, which means daily on Facebook and Instagram.

I used to do this and found myself overwhelmed with the amount of content I needed to create, so I don’t do it anymore and that's because social media is no longer my top tier platform.

Remember back to the beginning where we talked about Awareness, Attraction and Connection? Another way to look at this is through Cold, Warm and Hot Leads.

The majority of people in the Awareness phase are a cold lead, so you’re creating content that pulls them into your brand, if this is social media you’re going to feel like you’re constantly climbing a steep hill.

In my business, I pull in cold leads through my blog, which I optimize for Google and share on Pinterest. Another alternative is Youtube and podcasting. The reason these platforms work so well is because they are Search Engines; your audience is going to them with specific questions and looking for answers, this is not the same for social media.

In addition, your content lives longer on these platforms than say a post on social media, which might last 24 hours if you’re lucky.

If you're not already considering things like optimizing your website for SEO, and you aren't blogging, and you are not using Pinterest or you’re not using YouTube (if you like videos), really consider switching up where you are showing up, it will make a huge difference and will allow you to consistently show up with less content.

Again, if you want more of a deep dive in how to repurpose your weekly video or blog post, check out this blog.

CONCLUSION

Consistently showing up in your brand is important, but it doesn’t mean you have to post daily. Consistently showing up is about having smart marketing in place with systems and workflows that allow you to create content in a shorter amount of time and optimize your content so it lasts longer.

Brandmerry Academy is where I teach my clients how to improve their marketing without relying on social media. To learn more and join the waitlist visit brandmerryacademy.com

If these tips were helpful let me know over on Instagram. I’m hanging out at @michelleknightco.

P.S. Planning and creating your content doesn't have to be a constant struggle. There is a better way to research, plan, and create your content as an entrepreneur and it's all inside the Content Planning Blueprint!

The Content Planning Blueprint is perfect for online business owners who know the power of content creation but are tired of spending all of their time coming up with ideas, organizing their content, and wondering what will attract their dream clients.

In just a few hours, you'll have 90 days of content planned, a repeatable workflow to save you hours on creating and distributing your content every week, and content topics that will keep performing for your brand for years to come! Get your blueprint now >>

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

7 Steps to Repurpose Your Weekly Content and Work Less

If you’d like to watch the full video, you can do that here.

When I started my business I had no other choice but to be efficient with my time.

I started my business while working at a 9 to 5, raising a new baby (my first by the way), commuting, taking care of my home and launching this business.

Despite having no idea what I was doing, which definitely took time, I also had a bunch of other things to do.

No team.
Just me.
Content to create.

That’s when I fell in love with repurposing and over the past 4 years, I’ve freaking mastered it!

Today, I’m excited to share with you what repurposing looks like in my 6-figure business and how you can apply a similar workflow to your own business.

Why Should Online Entrepreneurs Repurpose Their Content

As an online entrepreneur, you should be focused on 4 tasks daily.

1. Growing your email list

2. Nurturing your email list

3. Making a sale

4. Serving your existing clients and customers

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the majority of your time goes to creating some form of content. What if you could streamline your entire content creation process with the art of repurposing and save yourself so much time every single week?

Are you intrigued yet?

Let’s pretend you spend…
1 hour writing an email every week
30 minutes to write a single social media post with photo
1 hour to write a blog post
30 minutes to record a Facebook live or record a video

This means you’re spending 3 hours minimum, for many of you this might be a hell of a lot more, to create 4 pieces of content for the week.

If this is your current strategy, spending a few hours every day writing content then you need repurposing more than you know.

The idea of repurposing is that you create one core piece of content and then break it down into multiple pieces to support the larger piece, show up and spread your message.

This means the time you’re spending to create a piece of content isn’t in vain...that one hour you spend to write a blog becomes 7 days’ worth of content or possibly more.

Repurposing provides you with 3 incredible benefits:

1. Saves you time every single week and day

2. Extends the life of your content. I don’t know about you, but if I’m spending an hour writing a piece of content I want to make sure it lasts more and an hour on social media.

3. Reaches your audience. Remember the rule of 7 in marketing? Well, your audience is most likely NOT seeing your single piece of content, so why not create a few more pieces to make sure they actually see your hard work in action.
   
   

There are so many different ways to repurpose your content, but today I want to share with you the exact method we use inside of my business and give you a simple workflow to set yourself up for success.

I’ve got some bonus videos below if you prefer to watch.

The Repurpose Strategy of a Multi 6-Figure Entrepreneur

I’ve always been a fan of repurposing content because, in the beginning, I didn’t really have a choice. I was working a 9 to 5, building my business and had a newborn baby strapped to my back, on my hip, on my boob...you get the picture.

I needed a way to maximize my time and my content in order to grow my business from the ground up.

In the beginning, I started simple. I would write a blog and send it to my list and then I’d share it on social media, but I was still writing more emails every week and scheduling social media felt exhausting.

If we’re being honest social media hasn’t always been my favorite way to attract new leads, I much prefer SEO, Pinterest and video for that and teach this inside of my membership Brandmerry Academy.

But, year after year I would fine-tune my process. I’d remove things that weren’t yielding results and I’d amplify the stuff that was.

In 2020, I was determined to create a workflow that would once again allow me to show up live for my audience, post on IGTV, show up on social media, improve my SEO and attract quality leads through Pinterest.

It’s been 4+ months of this strategy and I’m SO IN LOVE. 

Seriously, content is so flipping easy now, and I know that at the bare minimum I’m showing up and delivering quality content for my audience every single week.

Want a look inside of my workflow?

Here is my 2020 Content Workflow featuring my dear friend repurposing.

Step 1: Determine a topic for my weekly show Mondays With Michelle

Step 2: Email my community on Monday about my live stream topic and how to watch

Step 3: Write my script for the live video

Step 4: Share the live video on social media (Facebook and Instagram)

Step 5: Deliver the live video

**This all usually happens on Monday, the topics are outlined about 3 months in advance**

Step 6: Take the script or transcript (either works depending on your preference) and format it for a blog, this includes SEO research.

Step 7: Turn the video content into a blog (hint: this blog started the exact same way)

Step 8: Pull quotes and information from the script to create graphics (typically 2-3)

Step 9: Schedule the graphics for Facebook and Instagram

Step 10: Publish the blog post and share on Pinterest

Step 11: Turn the video (sometimes broken down into multiple pieces) into a video for IGTV

Step 12: Share on IGTV

Repeat every freaking week!

It looks a little something like this.

This might look like a lot, but the majority of these steps are just formatting and scheduling, which I now have a freaking amazing team to support me, but I did it myself for years.

The idea here is that I really only need to show up once to create the content, which I do on live video, and I’m set for the entire week!

7 Steps to Repurpose Your Blog, Video and Social Media Content

I don’t want you to mimic my workflow unless it works for you and the vision of your brand, but I do want to give you 7 steps to follow to create your own workflow. Follow these steps and you’ll find content creation becomes a freaking breeze.

I teach this entire strategy, plus how to utilize advanced marketing platforms inside my program Brandmerry Academy.

Step 1: DETERMINE YOUR PLATFORMS
You can’t design this unless you know exactly where you want to be showing up. As you saw from my example above I’m showing up on:

• Facebook and Instagram Live

• Facebook and Instagram Stories

• Facebook and Instagram Feed

• IGTV

• My blog

• Pinterest

• and Email

You can expand on this or shorten it down even further depending on your needs.

Step 2: DECIDE ON YOUR LONG-FORM CONTENT
Here is where so many entrepreneurs get it wrong! You want to make your life easier and start with the longest piece of content first. That will most likely be your blog or a video.

I highly recommend you have a blog for your website in order to improve your SEO and to give you the tools to grow on Pinterest, my favorite platform to be on (seriously, we’ve got 1 million viewers on there are you one of them?)

Once you’ve decided on your long-form content you can map out your 30-day calendar for that piece. Inside, the Academy we focus on 90 days, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Step 3: DESIGN YOUR WORKFLOW
For this step, I suggest using Trello or Asana. I use Asana to easily assign deadlines and tasks to my team and I like it because we can see where each other is in the process.

Set up a sample card in Asana with your workflow. List out every step and use this as a template moving forward. You can just duplicate the task every week for new content.

Remember, the goal here is to list out where you’ll be posting the content and every task you have. See my sample below.

**The first 3 steps only need to be done once!

Step 4: MAP OUT AT LEAST 30 DAYS OF CONTENT
For my business, this is my weekly video on Monday. I have a spreadsheet inside of Google Sheets that list out my schedule and topic for each episode.

This allows me to see the big picture of my content and I can start brainstorming my ideas far in advance.

**You’ll repeat this step every 30 days

Step 5: CREATE YOUR LONG-FORM PIECE OF CONTENT
Either sit down and write your blog post, record your video or record your podcast. Get this final piece 100% complete before moving on, it’s going to save you a lot of time. Remember, everything in your workflow stems from this single piece of content.

Step 6: BREAK DOWN YOUR CONTENT
Here’s the fun part. 

Now go through your long-form content and pull out the pieces you need. Create your graphics (use a template in Canva to make this easy), write your emails, draft your social media posts, etc.

If you’re repurposing a video, I love VEED.io.

Whatever you need to write, do that now! You basically want to have everything ready to post without actually posting it.

Step 7: SCHEDULE IT
You know I love a good scheduling tool. If you’re repurposing and not taking the time to schedule it what are you even doing? It takes like 30 minutes once everything is ready to go and will save you hours in the long run!

Use a tool like Later to schedule your Instagram and Facebook posts.
Use Tailwind to schedule your Pinterest images.
You can even schedule your blog post in your web provider.
Upload your IGTV and save it as a draft (watch the video below for my secret on this).
Schedule your email for delivery.
Schedule your podcasts in LIbsyn.
Schedule your videos for Youtube.

EVERYTHING can be scheduled in advance, and if you take this chunk of time at the beginning of the week or even month to do it, you’ll find you’ve got more time every single week.

CONCLUSION

If you implement even just 3 of these steps you’re going to start to streamline your content which will save you so much time.

I can’t stress that enough. Remember you started this business to live a life of freedom and make an impact, you can’t do that if you’re spending hours every single day creating content.

Marketing is necessary to grow your business, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. I believe in a simplified and minimalist approach to marketing that works to consistently grow your brand and business. Learn more at BrandmerryAcademy.com

P.S. Planning and creating your content doesn't have to be a constant struggle. There is a better way to research, plan, and create your content as an entrepreneur and it's all inside the Content Planning Blueprint!

The Content Planning Blueprint is perfect for online business owners who know the power of content creation but are tired of spending all of their time coming up with ideas, organizing their content, and wondering what will attract their dream clients.

In just a few hours, you'll have 90 days of content planned, a repeatable workflow to save you hours on creating and distributing your content every week, and content topics that will keep performing for your brand for years to come! Get your blueprint now >>

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.