I'm back with another episode where I answer my most commonly asked questions. These are questions that I get asked through, DMs on social media, through my coaching consulting conversations. And I wanted to put them in one episode because these seem to change as you'll see by these four questions that I will talk about in this episode. And I hope that this is helpful for you. I think it will be because it covers a vast array of stuff. Let's dive right into it. Number one, how do I manage all these subscriptions that I must have when it comes to creating content? This is actually what I get from coaching and consulting clients because, usually, when I'm working together, I don't make a bunch of recommendations on things they need to sign up for, but I have a bunch of tweaks and tools and things that I can use to try and solve the problem that we're going for. Meaning, like, they don't have to sign up for it, but I might want to use something, and then I'll say what tool I used. And usually people are just like, what the heck? Like, how are you subscribed to all of these things? And the fact of the matter is, like, as part of my job, right, you go to a mechanic and he's missing a tool. You're not like I mean, you're probably, like, not a good mechanic. Like, he needs his tools. So that's the same thing. Like, the average person doesn't need to subscribe to all these different subscriptions. I'm a content mechanic in some ways. Right? I gotta be ready for a lot of different things. I see myself and I've always been, like, a bit of a technician engineer at heart, really. I mean, my background originally is in audio engineering. So when it comes to audio and video tools, like, I love that stuff, and I collect them. Doesn't mean I subscribe to everything year round, but I subscribe to a lot. And I won't say full transparency because that would be a lie, but I do get a few subscriptions from different services complimentary. They give them to me, and it's kinda cool. You know, that's a perk of it, but it's all things. And I'm not even gonna mention who they are because, that's not why they give it to me. I just naturally talk about them in the content I make because I use their stuff, and I paid them probably thousands of dollars really. Or, you know, I've had clients sign up and paid them lots of money too. And, it's just because I use the product and services that I would even mention it. And because I've mentioned a few of them, then they reach out, and then we end up, like, doing something together or nothing together, and they just wanna give me, like, free access, which is cool. But I would have signed up for it anyways. So it's one of those things where I subscribe to a lot, and I also get a couple of them for free, which is cool, but it wouldn't really you know, it doesn't offset that much because I factor it into my overall budget for subscriptions. And when I try to make my recommendations to anybody on what subscriptions they need, I really try to think about, like, what is the least amount they need. Like, you don't need a I just keep picturing, like, an auto mechanic. Right? Like, you don't need, Jack and, like, one of those snap on tool sets with, like, 8,000 pieces. You probably need for your house, like, just a small toolbox that you could get on Amazon that has your basic screwdriver set. You know, you wanna get a little fancy. You might get electric screwdriver. Cool. That's gonna seem like a big step up. But if you're using it every single day, you're gonna want some, like, heavy duty stuff. Right? You're gonna want gonna get into weird situations where, like, you need a specific tool for a specific job that, you know, I might need a couple times or a few times a month, but you would need, like, one time a year. In that case, is it worth it for you to sign up for it if you only need it, like, once a year? Is it that big of a deal? Probably not. That's why, like, I just recorded a video last week on a solo podcaster tech stack, and there were just two things in it, Descript and Buzzsprout. It's not paid by them. I just was like, this is all you need because Descript could cover so much from the AI to the recording to the editing. And then Buzzsprout, I just really am a fan of the features that they have, like, having clients that publish podcasts on different directories and platforms. I just love Buzzsprout. It's simple. Okay. Next one, how do you decide what to share with the world? And this is kind of a culmination of different, things that I have been asked over the last, like, four to six months, really. And it's people just struggling going through something. Just like, what do I share? Right? I am going to be buying a house. Do I share that process with the world? You know, I'm going through some emotional stuff. It could be going through stuff like with my business. You know? Do I share that part? My philosophy on it is I decided to share with the world with what I will take responsibility for. And I'll take responsibility for everything in my own life, a % on board with that. I love the Jocko Willink approach, the extreme ownership. And there comes, like, some responsibility when you share stuff with the world to either continue sharing it or close a loop on that. Right? Like, if I was sharing with you some personal turmoil I might have been going through, it's kind of, to me, like, my responsibility to keep you informed on that to an end. I'm not going through personal turmoil. I'm just using that as an example. But, like, if I was like, oh my gosh. I've been going through depression and all of these things over the last six months. I haven't, just to clarify. I'm just using this as an example. If I was going through that over the last six months, but then I just, like, switched it up, and I started talking about something else. Personally, my relationship with you, like, that doesn't feel right. Like, I feel like I would need to continue it's, like, my responsibility to make sure that you're informed, because you create a relationship when you share content with the world, with who you share it with. Right? Even if it is, like, a one way form of communication like this is right now. Right? I'm talking to you, but you can't talk back. So I decided to share with the world with what I wanna take responsibility for. I don't really wanna take responsibility in having to share every area of my life. I do wanna take responsibility for sharing certain things, and so I'm pretty selective with what I share. And those boundaries, I think, are completely healthy. It allows me to show up the best for you because I'm not like, I gotta have to expose myself every single week, week after week. And it allows me to compartmentalize my whole relationship with creating content on these platforms, have some boundaries around my personal life, and it allows me to recharge. Like, that's one of my big, probably not even secrets, but something I don't say enough or at all really, is that that's one of the ways I don't burn out is because I have boundaries around my personal life. I don't have some, like, crazy personal life or anything. Right? I feel like my life is pretty, plain in some ways. It's exciting, but, like, there's not anything crazy happening behind the scenes. And that's intentional, and I like it how it's set up. So just to say a third time, I decide what to share with the world through the simple filter of what do I wanna take responsibility in what I share. Now I think there's a lot of people in this world, you know, just for a minute, get in my soapbox. They could also take that same philosophical approach, not to mention, EA or whatever who just had a meltdown on x, Twitter, whatever. But I'm just reminded of, like, it's an adult approach to creating content in this day and age. Take responsibility. Words have power. Treat your relationship with what you put out into the world just like you would as if you were with other people in real life. And I think you start to have a really healthy approach, and it becomes really clear what you should and shouldn't share with the world. Next is how do you stay up to date on everything without getting overwhelmed? This one also speaks to kind of like the burnout thing. Right? There's information flying by every day of the week. Sometimes it can feel really overwhelming. I don't wanna downplay that part. Just a couple weeks ago, I had sent out a newsletter. It just felt like social media, just like, what is going on? There's all these platforms. Where should you be? Which platform is shifting? The algorithms are moving constantly. It seems like you got your podcast, you got your emails, AI is just disrupting everything. Everything is in motion. One of the ways that I stay up to date on everything is I don't really. I miss a lot of stuff. And I'll tell you what, it is exciting to miss a lot of stuff. The older I get, the more excited I am to miss a lot of stuff. When people will tell me things and I have not heard them, and this has happened more and more, I guess, since I've had my daughter in the last couple years, people will tell me stuff. And I go, oh, like, they assume I I knew what they were telling me, and I go, no. No. I don't know what you're talking about. Like, tell me. And to hear information in real life from other people about some news of something is really cool. And it has made me realize how much being, like, hyper online can affect discussions that happen in real life. It can affect social environments. Because if you know what everybody else is talking about or gonna say, it can feel kind of like you get more stimulation from online than offline. But I would say I'm pretty in the know on, like, certain topics that are useful to, like, things that I'm sharing about with you, like my domain, content creation, content systems, AI tools, entrepreneurship, things like that. Like, I know a good amount, but I have filters through the information that gets to me. Like, I don't need everyone's thoughts, so I don't go on x or on Reddit and search by new to see, like, what's the latest things. Things filter to the top. If it's actually important, it will reach the headlines. It will reach me. So by having filters, I give myself space to process the information that's being transmitted at, like, millions a second. And by intentionally consuming content, I don't really get overwhelmed too often. I still do sometimes when it's, like, big things, my brain's trying to wrap around, like, how do I use this thing? Just a recent example last week using OpenAI's new deep research tool, my brain is still, like, thinking all these different ways to use it, and I was running, like, all these different deep research reports. And that felt kinda overwhelming, but I also make it a point to take good care of myself. You know, just on the last week's episode, I was sharing how I lost 43 pounds, almost at 45 pounds lost in, like, the last nine months or so. I've been meditating. I've journaled almost for fifteen hundred days in a row now. I compartmentalize stuff, like, pretty dang good. So I'm intentional about when I come into my workspace. I'm here. I'm working. I'm learning. I'm not trying to contact switch. I'm not consuming information while I'm recording this podcast. I try to be present with what I'm doing. All of these micro things help me to not be as overwhelmed as I could be because it's easy for me to slip into that anxiety overwhelm because there's just a lot going on and there's a lot to be thinking about. But how much of it really matters? Probably not much. What really matters is me recording this podcast for you. And I focus on that. Really. Don't overwhelm. Alright. Next one. How much does niche matter in creating content? This is a big old it depends answer. It matters a ton if you are selling something that is directly tied to your reason for being on social media. If you are selling a very specific product or service, it's probably important that you are targeting a certain niche when you're making content. There's a ton of freedom within that vision that you create when you're thinking about, okay, what can I make content about? But if you don't have a specific product or service that you're selling, it starts to matter less and less. What really matters is an alignment of your audience, who you're talking to, you, what you like talking about, and then that middle piece, that overlap area of what you like talking about and what your audience likes hearing. The more you can dial into that and just keep hitting that sweet spot, the more you get all the things that you want. You start becoming a trusted authority or voice in this space. You start creating your own category. People start looking to you for your thoughts on certain subjects. People start wanting to hear more of what you're talking about because there's that overlap, because you're genuinely interested in what you're talking about, and they really wanna hear it. Now there's a problem, though, and I'll use the analogy of a fitness trainer. A lot of people become fitness trainers because they like working out. They think about, okay. What do I do a lot? I go to the gym. So they're like, I could become a fitness trainer because I enjoy it. And then they have trouble marketing themselves like everybody else, but they thought it should have been easier because they really enjoy working out. Same thing happens with creators who want to create content about creating content, like myself. And I share this as, like, a a personal example of the stuff I've dealt with in the, like, kind of niche mattering and creating content. It feels very meta, not the company. It feels very meta talking about creating content while I'm creating content. And it's a highly competitive topic because there's a lot of creators who are like, I like creating content. I don't know what to talk about, so I'll talk about creating content. And so for a while, I was battling with it because I'm like, I don't know. It feels too meta. Why can't I talk about something else? Because it's actually really easy for me to come up with all these other ideas, whether it is around fitness content or self improvement content, all these other things. It's, like, so much easier for me to talk about for other people. And it is easy for me to talk about creating content, but it's meta. Like, why can't I why can't I be, like, a self improvement guy or something? You know? And you might be listening to me say this and say, but it seems actually really simple to talk about, you know, talking about creating content because you just talk about creating content. And I think most people struggle with their niche. Most people, if you were to ask them, have a hard time being boxed in to talk about one subject. So that's why I had said, if the reason for you creating content is directly tied to a product or service, it's in your best interest because when you create content, it will naturally be tied to the product or service you're selling. Like, if I was to talk about baseball stuff, but I sell content creation services, there's no natural tie in. Like, people who are interested in baseball is gonna be really big, but a tiny subsection of that will be interested in what I have to sell. Obviously, way different for people who are looking to create content would be interested in my, like, content clips, for example. So for me, the niche matters. But that doesn't mean that there's not flexibility in with what you're talking about. Right? You have to still be excited about what you're talking about. This is why so many of, like, the top podcasts will have people on that are from all different types of background because it keeps a variety for the host. I think if you go too narrow with your niche over time, for many creators, it can feel really, like, boxed in and boring and hard to stay motivated and interested. Now that's not to say for everybody. Some people are lit up by that. They could just keep talking about it over and over. But if you give yourself a little bit of wiggle room, usually people see less burnout. They're able to maintain higher energy for years to come. That make sense? Hope so. Also, I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, let me know. See you in the next one.