Michelle Jackson – The Seven Deadly Sins of Content Creation

Welcome to season 2 of the Plutus Awards Podcast hosted by Michelle Jackson. Our community is filled with hundreds of stories from creators and entrepreneurs just like you. And through this show we share these stories of challenges  and successes from bloggers to podcasters from writers, speakers and more. 

 

In this season we talk about a somewhat taboo topic-the deadly sins that personal finance (and other content creators) can make. We share lessons learned, how to avoid these mistakes and the fact that we’re all human putting our creative work out there into the world. This season’s conversation is about the inherent risks we’re taking in developing online brands, our own hubris and the impact that how other people perceive us can make us or break our online brand.

 

In proposing this series I wanted to touch on our shared vulnerability and humanity. We’re not perfect and sometimes I’m frustrated by the narratives shared online that content creators never make mistakes. Because a lot of what we do is failing forward. The other part of the conversation related to the 7 deadly sins to avoid making in the content creation space as personal finance creatives is figuring what’s the fine line between making a mistake (and resolving it) or committing an actual sin with no understanding of why it’s a sin and no intention to resolve it.

 

The goal with this season is not to shame anyone because of the mistakes that they’ve made, Instead, it’s to have authentic, empathetic conversations around what can go wrong when running an online brand, share how people address different situations so that you have ideas of what to do if you find yourself dealing with the same issue and try to answer the question “Are some mistakes unforgivable?” And what role does the greater personal finance space play in a creator’s redemption?

 

I’m about to share some of the Deadly Sins and one that I committed as well 

 

• Omission-Are there aspects about building an online brand and business that you could be more transparent about? In the next episode my guest Natasha and I talk about this at length. 

 

• Reputation-This refers to how the greater community perceives you positively or negatively. Interestingly, you may be perceived negatively and still be a pretty influential content creator.

 

• Consistency-Life happens and sometimes you may end up disappearing for a moment. How consistent do you really have to be before hurting your brand?

 

• Money-There are so many different angles that we can talk about from the money angle. There’s an endless number of possibilities where actions around money can impact your brand.

 

• Products-Developing unique to you products is a great way to earn money. But, what if something goes wrong? People hate your product, you don’t deliver on the premise of the product or maybe YOU hate YOUR product. 

 

• Lack of Connection-This one is tricky, lack of connection could relate to the greater personal finance community or how your circumstances change and how those changes impact how the community you serve views you. I’ve noticed this in 3 different situations:
• When personal finance content creators earn more
• When their interests change and they fail to realize how this change impacts their community
• When a personal finance content creator seems to be out of touch with what their community actually wants from them

 

• Pricing-Developing and creating products and services is a scary and exhilarating process. But the pricing process can go bad very quickly. How? By under or overcharging what you’re selling and how your clientele perceives your pricin