Stop Being a Content Sheep
Creators are copying each other until their content becomes shallow, boring, and outdated.
Have you ever heard that when two people do the same, it is not the same?
Well, explain then what is happening on Medium, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, BitClout, etc. People are copying each other. Ok, I can live with that.
BUT! How some people are monetizing the process of copying is ridiculous. They create courses for writing habits, offering writing prompts and templates for ‘viral’ content. They give you hope that you succeed with THEIR help. They do it for you.
Are you crazy?
They are only good at selling and playing on your despair and lack of patience. There are no quick wins for creators. Only consistency and self-development.
Selling dreams
We all want to make it. We want to be successful and escape our 9–5 jobs. We hope to have passive incomes from side hustles. Keep on going guys.
I am having subscriptions to the most successful writers on Medium. They are promoters of LinkedIn. They mastered the platform and teach how you can do the same. Basically, how to copy their content for 300$+.
So, yes. Although they are ‘saving you’ time as they discovered all the goodies FOR you, they only mask their own business.
Let’s not play hide and seek.
They earn money from your dreams.
After all, they are also trying to make it. Nothing is for free. Not in the online world.
Think about online courses as food supplements for losing weight. They can be quality, they promise huge results, but without your own effort and anticipation, they hardly work. It takes months, years to get to a place you want to be.
It is the same with writing, online business, self-employment, etc. It is a hard job. Successful people worked for it for years, they experienced all the struggle as you do. But if you are at the beginning, you wish to take a shortcut.
Too bad, there are none. You have to get through it yourself.
Templates kill your spirit
This week I tried two templates for my LinkedIn posts. I sweated them down. What work! Having a template does not make writing or creation easier, it makes it harder.
It puts pressure on you. You have to stick to the template to be successful. You have to replicate the exact formula for the next 30+ days. Uf. That’s tough. It can kill your creativity and spirit. What we get is that all the content is the same:
Medium
This is how much money I earned my first bla bla bla
I earned XXX past 3 months with this formula bla bla bla
My viral article earned me bla bla bla
9 habits of a great leader include bla bla bla
7 habits that make you productive bla bla bla
5 career habits for bla bla bla
Are you getting bored? I am. I read a lot and see all the time the same pieces of advice. Write every day, check what this publication publishes and write something similar, write quality, not quantity.
Gosh. Are we really so little creative to write all the time the same?
1000x the same advice, just in a differently formatted paragraph.
The same shi* is quickly outdated
Someone is always the first. Someone posted his stats and earnings. It drives hype. Everyone writes about theirs. You look at yours and decide to share yours. At that moment the topic is overused, boring, and uninspiring.
Then a new hype comes, you slip to join, and it’s outdated.
I believe in only one piece of advice — consistency, and integrity.
The power is in your voice. Build it over time. Write about topics you are comfortable commenting on. That’s it.
Write for love, not for money.
You most likely won’t get any money anyway from writing online. So, nothing to lose if you won’t be ‘cool’.
Is your success real or artificial?
One thing I notice about LinkedIn success courses is that participants support each other. That’s great. That’s how it should be.
Yet, there is one big BUT. This community support creates an artificial success as other members of the course are supposed to like each other posts and engage with the content. To spit it out:
You are buying yourself likes.
Ugly truth. Proud content creators are buying themselves a feeling they are loved. Hmmm. People were against it on Instagram, but now the same is happening on LinkedIn. Virality is a joke.
Well though course creators. They even show you prints of posts of participants using their templates and how many likes they gained. Somehow sad.
But ok, it works. You can get more followers and likes. The question is how long you will sustain that.
‘Copy it from me’ aka strategies for success
I noticed that people often write about strategies and that they are so generous to tell us we can ‘copy them’. I found it a good idea. So, I used this phrase in my writing too.
… and I hated it.
How stupid was I to do it? I lot. I joined the hype. I don’t want people to copy me. I want to have a conversation with them. Inspire each other to be better. To find out who we are and how best we can help each other and others.
That’s why I love what I do. I want to help people to be better and work together in respectful and trustworthy relationships.
Find what is your way.
Sure, experiment and copy others. No issue with it. But don’t expect to have the same results. Handle your expectations carefully.
Final thought
Let’s be careful about what is still meant as self-improvement and what is already selling.
Selling is about emotions. About filling the gap in your needs. Your desires cost money. It is an investment. But I wonder if instead of paying online communities for luxury to post with them, you should not have a nice massage and relax your mind.
Invest in yourself. Take time to understand who you are and why are you doing what you are doing. Why do you want to be successful? These might be better drivers than templates for success.
