What I learned from Sean McCabe at the Craft + Commerce Conference?

The moment he showed a graph of his income, I knew that I had to start writing daily.  

Sean McCabe had one message and one message only during this speech at the 2017 Craft and Commerce Conference: start writing and start writing daily. On a graph showing his income, he circled the point where his revenue sky-rocketed. It was when he made it a daily habit to write that his revenue from his online business really broke the trajectory and took off!
 

His revenue increased dramatically when he began to write daily.

Sean shared that as he began to publish more and more content, his income shot through the roof. It was truly eye-opening!

I think that this was all that I needed to see. I’ve been working to make a living online for several years and right now I am really grateful to have consistent, repeat clients in my service-based business. Working with my clients helping to build what they aspire to create fills me up with contentment. Everytime I can solve a tech problem for them or implement their ideas into their ConvertKit accounts, I receive a huge sense of contribution and self-worth. But I know that I want to do more for my clients and readers that is leveraged. I want to create a massive resource of information in the form of blogs, video tutorials and online programs that will have the useful resources that online entrepreneurs can use to implement email marketing strategies and grow their business. 

But I know that at the pace at which I am going, it is not sustainable. I am heading towards burnout. I know I need to change something.

And that change is the writing practice.

In the day-to-day busy schedule of serving various clients, writing a blog or creating a video tutorial gets pushed back on my schedule. But it is exactly this kind of an activity that can help my online presence become a resource for bloggers. My goal is to show bloggers how they can make a living and thrive using email marketing. So for that to happen, I’ve got to “Teach Everything I Know” (ConvertKit’s motto). And if I am to do that, I’ve got to make writing a daily habit. 

The logic is very clear and convincing:
Help Online Entrepreneurs -> Teach everything I know-> Write Everyday

Sean highlighted in his talk how writing is the basis of anything you want to create. You start with writing if you want to:

• write a blog post

• make a video script

• draft a speech

• create a proposal as a freelancer or agency

• apply for a job

• make a real estate offer

• write a birthday/anniversary/wedding wish

• communicate with clients

• ask for a raise

• write a book

• write a song

• create a movie screenplay

• journal your thoughts

• write gratitude

• draft a fundraising proposal

• write emails to your list

As you see in my list above, writing is the basis for all personal as well as professional communication and so many types of creative activities.

Why not, then, invest our time to hone this craft?

Let’s say with this blog post and Sean’s arguments, you are convinced that you too want to write everyday. But it’s not easy to say, okay from tomorrow I will begin writing.

You can certainly do it.

But it’s far easier to cross a narrow bridge when it has hand rails than it is to walk on a bare plank across a divide.

That’s why Sean offered everyone attending the conference free access to his course: 30 Days to Better Writing. (This is not an affiliate link). I signed up and have been writing daily for the last 7 days.

Including this article, I have written 4177 words in 7 days.

(And that’s in about 20 minutes daily - on some days I wrote for 40 minutes or more)

30 Days to Better Writing

His course is a real inspiration for building my writing habit. He asks us to write for 20 minutes everyday. He has an exercise and writing prompt in each lesson. And that makes it super easy to begin writing. What I love about his course is that each lesson builds upon the other and it is directed towards you as a blogger working to make writing a daily habit.

If you’d like to take advantage of this course, here’s where you can find more info: 30 Days to Better Writing.

Key Insights That I took away from his talk:

1. Building a writing habit is the best thing you can do for your career.

2. If you want to make a name for yourself write daily.

3. It all starts with writing

4. You write to find out what you want to say

5. Nothing you write is wrong. Write first. Edit later.

6. Leaders are seen as experts because they teach.

7. Get inside the weekly cycle (about posting weekly blogs).

8. Get a content buffer (6 weeks of buffer if you publish weekly and 2 weeks if you publish daily)

9. Repurpose your content. Replay your best hits.

The conference held in Boise, Idaho was truly a success for me. I’ve come back with enormous treasures and gifts on my journey as a blogger and online entrepreneur. And one of them is the gift of how to make writing a daily habit.

Thank you Sean McCabe! Thank you Nathan Barry, the entire team at ConvertKit and all the participants who made the conference possible.
If you'd like to join next year's conference, here's the link to sign up to the list so you get updated on ticket sales: https://convertkit.com/conference/
I've already got my tickets!

Question for Reflection: How do you think building a daily writing habit could help you in your business and life? What are the two or three obstacles you’d need to overcome to write daily? And finally, will you choose to write daily today? 

Please share in the comments below as your sharing can inspire someone - (starting with me).